Coming Home
by Victoria Hughes
Summary: [Indefinite Hiatus][AU] Sam's lived in Amity under Pariah Dark's rule for as long as she can remember. But a new ghost claiming Amity as his own has appeared ... and he's ready to fight for it. Based off Reign Storm. DxS.
1. Return

_This is an AU where ghosts rule Amity Park: Pariah Dark is the King of All, the Fright Knight is his right-hand man, and Walker runs the prisons. This was, obviously, highly inspired by the episode 'Reign Storm'. But I don't know if I'll finish it or not, honestly … it's really long and involved, so we'll have to see._

**Coming Home**

It was after curfew.

Samantha Manson (or 'Sam' as she preferred to be called) snuck from street to street, building to building. She hid from the man on the other side of the street – he looked human, yes, but anyone could be overshadowed.

"Stop! Human!"

_Oh great._

Sam stiffened at the voice behind her, and looked over her shoulder to see one of Walker's goons waving a nightstick at her. She stuck out her tongue at it and fled.

"We have a curfew violation on 22nd!" The ghost made chase.

Walker was known for his unreasonable punishments for minor crimes. If Sam was caught, she'd spend as much as a year in jail (he hadn't quite gotten hang of the idea that humans couldn't last one thousand years, so luckily he had appointed humans to help him tone it down). "Can't you let it go just this once?" Sam called back. The ghost ignored her.

She turned to look forward again – and ran straight into a spectral chest. "Ow!" She bounced off the thing in front of her and fell on her butt. She looked up.

It was a ghost – a boy with white hair and green, glowing eyes, his white-booted feet about half a foot off the ground and his arms crossed in front of him. Sam gasped audibly – she was _so _dead.

"Get behind me," the ghost said, before advancing in front of her. "Hey!"

The goon following her screeched to a halt, blinking. "I haven't seen you before," it said.

"Well, I, uh … I'm kind of new around here." The ghost sounded uncertain. "I heard Pariah Dark's realm was a safe haven for ghosts who pledge allegiance to him."

"That's right," the goon said slowly. "Why?"

"Well, I'm here to do that. But first, uh … let me take this girl home. She's not worth the trouble," he declared.

"She's not?"

"Nope." The ghost shook his head. "Besides, I heard there was a meeting being held by some humans three streets over. You'll want to be in on that bust, right?"

The goon's eyes widened. "Oh, yeah!" He shot off down the street.

Sam gaped, and began to sneak off. A ghost of any kind was bad news; anyone who had lived in Amity Park in the last ten years knew that.

No one knew exactly how Pariah Dark had come out of his thousand-year slumber and emerged from the Ghost Zone, but he was gradually taking over Amity and the surrounding area. The Guys in White had tried to contain him, but the sheer numbers of his force had overwhelmed them. The United States had declared open war on the ghost, but they could hardly do a thing; large chunks of Oregon were gradually disappearing into the Ghost Zone, utterly ruled by the ruthless ghost lord.

Sam Manson and her family had the unfortunate luck to be living in Amity when this had occurred. She had grown up under ghost law, aware that rebellion had dire consequences. Still, like most humans, she resented it. Her parents tried to be perky and happy anyway, and Sam hated how they pandered to the ghosts, as if any amount of groveling would actually make them see the Mansons as their equals.

She wanted to help stop them.

She had heard of a small pocket of resistance recently, just a whispered word here and there, and she was trying to find them. However, instead she'd had the rotten luck of being caught by not one, but two ghosts!

"Hey, wait up!"

Sam froze, turning nervously towards the ghost that had thrown the goon off her trail. "Get away from me," she hissed as he approached.

The ghost cringed a little, floating back several feet. "Sorry," he said, sounding hurt. "I was only trying to--"

"What? You showed up to help out Pariah Dark? Then I don't want to have anything to do with you," Sam shot back. "Leave me alone."

"Hey! I just helped you out!"

"Great. Get lost."

The ghost stared at her, apparently shocked by her behavior. "Well … if you want."

And with that, he disappeared into the building next to her.

Sam stared after him, then hightailed it back home.

&

The schools were taught by a mixture of ghosts and humans. Pariah Dark himself saw no point in the education of humans, but apparently someone had convinced him that it was necessary to keep some semblance of normalcy to keep his human subjects subdued; however, certain subjects had experienced … changes. American History had been replaced with the history of Pariah Dark's conquests. Science revolved around ectoplasm. And English was littered with the works of long-dead poets, who taught the classes themselves.

It was in English, the first class Sam had, that a new face appeared.

There was whispering and shocked silence. No one new had come to Casper High for as long as any of the students could remember, because the only population that could possibly attend the high school was in Amity – which was utterly cut off from the rest of the world.

"Well, everyone …" the teacher (Ernest Hemingway) seemed rather nonplussed. "This is … what was your name, boy?"

"Danny Fenton," the boy answered dutifully. Sam blinked at him; he was a shockingly tanned boy, thin and not particularly tall, with black hair and strikingly blue eyes. "Er … hi." He shuffled past the teacher and slid into an empty seat in the back, apparently sensing the teacher's total disinterest in him.

Sam looked back at him, as did most of the class, and the boy looked up – right at Sam.

Sam hastily turned around, blinking.

"Well, then, let's get down to business," the ghost declared, and class resumed as usual.

Of course, right after class, the new boy was mobbed.

"Where are you from?"

"How did you get here?"

"Wow, who would want to come to Amity, anyway?"

The boy, Danny, deferred most of the questions with nervous laughter and attempts to walk out of the crowd. Sam was intrigued as well, but she wasn't about to try to talk to him now. _I'll find out about him later._

'Later', as it turned out, was at lunch. Despite calls for him to join tables all over the lunchroom, Danny walked up to Sam. "Hi," he said, sounding a bit abashed. "Um, can I sit with you?"

Sam raised her eyebrows. "Sit wherever you want," she said, trying to sound disinterested.

Danny sat opposite her and eyed the food. "Wow, who makes this?"

"The Lunch Lady," Sam groaned, poking her own mystery meat. "We don't even know where they get the food from, since there's no way into or out of Amity. Speaking of which … how did _you_ get in here?"

"Oh, uh … well, don't tell anyone," Danny answered nervously, "but my parents are ghost—uh … ghost-seekers." The way he said it, Sam suspected he meant something else. "So, uh … well, it's a long story. Never mind."

"Oh, no, go on," Sam grinned. "It's very interesting, and we have all of lunch."

Danny shook his head. "Nah, I'll tell you later." He looked up at her. "I guess you know my name, since you were in English with me. Er … I didn't catch yours."

"Oh, duh. Sam Manson." Sam smirked. "Not that it matters, but I'm kind of a loser around here. You could have your pick of friends, it looks like, so you'd better go find some friends to make."

Danny took a bite of his mystery meat and made a face. "I'm fine here. It's nice to meet you, anyway. Uh, why wouldn't it matter?"

"Well, everyone who lives in Amity just ends up working for Pariah Dark anyway. Grades don't matter, really; there's no place to go. I guess if you study hard, you can go to the college, but it just means you get to, oh, I dunno, design weapons or something. We're just being made into one big war machine," Sam sighed.

"Yeah, uh … the outside world kind of noticed. He's … uh … waging war on Seattle."

"Really? Didn't know he'd gotten that far." Sam blinked. "We don't really hear these things. You might've guessed."

"A little." Danny smiled thinly.

Sam pushed her plate aside; she didn't eat meat anyway, so since her salad was finished, she was done eating. "So, why would you come to Amity? Your hometown get sucked into Pariah's little domain or what?"

Danny swallowed hard and looked up at her. "What? Oh, uh … actually, this _is_ my hometown."

Sam stared at him. "What?"

"I'm adopted." Danny licked his lips. "I was born here, or so I'm told. Right around the time Pariah Dark started making moves to take over Amity, I guess."

Yeah, uh, we apparently started getting regular ghost attacks right around the time I was born, so I guess that would be when you were born, too. I mean, since we're in the same grade." Sam raised her eyebrows. "You came here looking for your birth parents or something?"

"No, not exactly." Danny looked nervous for some reason, glancing up at the clock. "Hey, look, I have to go do some registration stuff … uh … they said they didn't have any transfer papers and had to go print some up when I came, so they said to come during lunch."

"Duh they don't have registration papers." Sam rolled her eyes. "Pariah acts like we humans barely exist, unless someone's, you know, actually stepping out of line. Not that anyone ever does _that_, of course," she added sarcastically. "No one new has come to Amity Park in ten years! We don't need transfer papers."

Danny stared at her. "Well … I guess that explains a few things," he said in a low voice. "Heh. Well … I gotta run. I'll see you after class, right?"

Sam cocked her head. "Why do you want to spend all your time with me, anyway?"

Danny's eyes widened. "Uh … well … you're nice," he said. "Can't I just want to?"

Before Sam could say another word, he'd disappeared.

&

But Sam didn't see him after class. No one did; in fact, no one had seen him in any of the afternoon classes. Sam was mystified. Where could he have gone …?

"Hey, Manson."

Sam was just throwing her backpack over her shoulder when her name was thrown at her like a sword. She turned around to find herself facing Dash Baxter. "Oh, it's you," she said disdainfully. Dash was another one of the people whose parents seemed determined to make best friends with the ghosts, and nothing she'd seen of Dash convinced her he was smart enough to think they were wrong. "What do you want?"

The tall, tough-looking boy lowered his face towards hers. "I heard you were sneaking around last night. Almost got busted for breaking curfew, huh?"

Sam glared at him. "How is that any of your business?" she demanded.

Dash's face turned up a twisted smile. "Relax, Manson. I think it's cool. Heard you were looking for something … right?"

Sam didn't say anything. How did Dash know all of this? Was he overshadowed? What was going on?

"Look, Manson, I don't like you and you don't like me, but if you're gonna break curfew, you might as well break it with a reason." He leaned forward. "Password's 'Fright Knight'. My place. Be there. If you don't show up, we'll think you're not worth the trouble."

Sam opened her mouth to reply, but Dash was walking away.

_What?_

&

Sam called her parents to say she was staying after school, but instead she wandered in the direction of Dash Baxter's house. How was it that he hadn't given her a time to show up? There was no way to know when to come, and lacking much else to do, she decided she'd come over before curfew. No need to get in trouble twice in two nights …

The Amity Park was still standing, albeit a shadow of its former self. Most of the park had been transformed into a huge factory, where Valerie Gray's father worked. The only thing the factory churned out was ghost weapons. The park itself was a block wide now, with a dilapidated little playground that the few children played at. It was here that Sam sat down on a park bench and began her homework – pointless though it was. If she flunked out of school, she could only be sent to work for Pariah Dark early.

She was startled by a scream, followed by a fleet of Walker's goons racing by her seat. Sam grabbed her homework and held down her skirt in the sudden wind of rushing ghosts. "Get that ghost!"

The fleet of goons passed, and there was abrupt silence before Sam heard a sigh right next to her. She jumped, letting out a little shriek that was quickly muffled by a hand on her mouth.

She looked over to see the ghost boy from the night before.

"Shhh! Don't give me away," the ghost whispered. "You won't scream?"

Sam shook her head.

"Good." The ghost took his hand away slowly. "Hi again."

"What are you doing? Why are Walker's goons chasing you?" Sam demanded in a harsh whisper.

The ghost boy grinned at her. "Oh, I was just stirring up some havoc to distract them," he said airily.

"Distract them from what?"

"Don't worry about it," the ghost said, shrugging. "Didn't mean to startle you. I just wanted to see you again."

Sam gave him an incredulous look. What was up with this ghost? "You're really strange for a ghost," she said slowly. "And I would know."

"You would, wouldn't you?" The ghost sighed again, his face falling.

"I told you to get lost last night," Sam added. "My sentiments haven't exactly changed. I thought you were gonna go ally with Pariah Dark."

"Well, I lied," the ghost answered.

Sam stared at him. "Are you planning on taking over Pariah's realm or something?"

"No … not really …" the ghost hesitated. "More like … I want to take it back."

"Huh?"

But she had no time to get an answer. There was a shout from across the park. "There he is!"

"Oops! Gotta run!" The specter rose off the park bench and made a face at the goons. "Nyah nyah! You couldn't catch me if you tried!" he called before shooting off across the sky.

The goons made chase, and Sam was left with questions – again.

&

Two hours later found Sam on Dash Baxter's front steps. She stared at the door, finding it oddly daunting, before she knocked.

The door opened a crack. "Sam Manson, right?"

Sam couldn't see the person beyond the door, but it sounded like Dash's father. "Yeah. Uh … Fright Knight?" she said questioningly.

The door opened wider. "Get in, quickly."

Sam slipped in the door, and it slammed shut behind her. It was, in fact, Mr. Baxter. "Hello, Sam. We heard you were wandering around last night after curfew."

"How is it that _everyone_ knows this?" Sam asked. "Geez!"

"We have our ways. Now – hang on for a moment." Mr. Baxter reached into his pocket and produced a ring. "Put this on."

"Okay …" Sam did so, and Mr. Baxter suddenly wore a relieved look.

"Thanks," he said, slipping the ring back off her finger. "It's an interesting little device that electrocutes ghosts. If you were overshadowed, you'd have been a bit 'shocked', if you'll pardon the pun." Mr. Baxter smirked slightly, just like the way his son did. "Welcome to the resistance, Samantha."

&

Sam sat down among a varied group of people – around thirty in all. The Baxters were there, of course, along with their son; Valerie Gray (that wasn't too much of a surprise) and her father (that _was_ a surprise); Mr. Lancer, who was no longer Vice Principal of Casper High, but still taught twelfth grade English; and a variety of others, some whom Sam recognized and others she didn't. "This is it?" she asked softly of the young man sitting next to her.

"Well, no, not really," the man answered. "We're just a few. If everyone met all at once, Pariah Dark might take notice, you know?"

Sam immediately saw the logic in that. "Good point."

"All right, everyone, let's get started," called Mr. Gray, standing up and clapping his hands twice. "We've called this emergency meeting for a reason, and we want everyone to get home before curfew.

"First of all, we'd like to welcome Miss Manson." All eyes turned towards Sam, who blushed slightly in reaction. "Dash tells us she's very intelligent, and of course with her parents being a sponsor of our esteemed ruler, we're hoping she can give us a hand."

"My parents are actually sponsors?" Sam asked, surprised. "I knew they were rich, but I didn't know they were giving money to Pariah. Wait. Ghosts need money?"

"Know your enemy," Valerie intoned. "Pariah's buying people on the outside to help him out. Apparently a _certain_ ghost knows his way around the human world enough to know money can get you anywhere," she said darkly. There were grave nods from around the room.

_A certain ghost?_ Sam wanted to ask who that was, but she figured she could inquire about that later.

"All right, all right, back on track," Mr. Gray said. "Tonight we've got guests of honor, who we're happy to have in town. George?"

"They're here," Mr. Baxter said. "Come on in."

Four people walked into the room.

Sam stared. So did everyone else. In the lead was a petite woman dressed in a blue hazmat suit; she had orange hair and dark blue eyes, and she waved pleasantly as if it were a housewarming party. "Hello, everyone!"

The person behind her was massive. Sam wondered if he had to shuffle into rooms sideways with his bulk. He wore an orange hazmat suit, had thinning gray hair and dark eyes. "Name's Jack Fenton, and this is my wife, Maddie! And here are my kids, Jazzypants and Danny!"

'Jazzypants' was a petite girl with long orange hair. She elbowed her father as she walked past him. "Dad! It's 'Jazz', everyone," she said, exasperated.

And the last one, Sam was not entirely surprised to see, was Danny Fenton. He looked a little roughed up, a bruise on one cheek, but otherwise exactly the same as when he'd sat with her at lunch. "Hi," he said shortly, and half-hid behind Jack's sizable body.

"The Fentons are ghost hunters," Mr. Gray said. "From the _outside."_

Immediately there was a flurry of movement. "How did you get in?"

"Does this mean there's a way out?"

"Are the Guys in White hoping to infiltrate and destroy from within?"

"Okay, okay, everybody!" Maddie Fenton's voice was rather nasally, but surprisingly piercing. "We're here to help! Let me explain a little bit.

"My husband and I are experienced Ghost Hunters! We've been doing this job for the past twenty years, and we know what we're up against! Our kids are trained in every weapon we have, and we'll train as many of you as possible.

We had to get here by traveling through the Ghost Zone. Most of Oregon has been separated into little chunks spread throughout the Ghost Zone, but we know that Amity is the seat of Pariah Dark's power. It took us a long while to build a portal that would take us into the Ghost Zone without killing us, and that's why no one has come to the rescue. We were under constant assault for our entire trip here; it's a miracle we made it." Inexplicably she looked at Danny, who colored slightly. "Getting in and out is almost impossible, unfortunately. We had heard there was a resistance thanks to two of your members who escaped—"

"The Sanchez's!" someone called.

"Yes, the Sanchez's," Maddie confirmed. "So with that in mind, we thought we should come in and strengthen you in any way we can. We hope to build a ferry line between the outside world and the Ghost Zone to get you more supplies, and we're working with the Guys in White to build a stable Portal large enough to let through a large force all at once. Then we can coordinate an attack from within and without!"

"Finally, a plan!" cheered Mrs. Baxter. "There's hope after all!"

"Three cheers for the Fentons!"

"Uh, maybe we shouldn't cheer. The walls aren't soundproof, you know."

"Good point."

While there was general hubbub and murmuring, Danny broke away from his family and took a seat next to Sam. "Hi," he said quietly. "Sorry I missed you after class."

Sam tried to look reassuring, but she was curious. "Yeah, about that – where did you go? No one saw you in school for the rest of the day."

"Well, I—"

"All right!" Mr. Gray interrupted Danny, and the Fentons started to find seats. "We're all thrilled, of course, but remember, this doesn't change anything – for now. Continue as usual. Now, before we break up – Mrs. Fenton?"

Maddie didn't get up from her seat. "Well, we had some … gifts … for all of you, but they're not ready yet," she confessed. "We need to make them a bit more unobtrusive before they're ready. But I promise we'll have them by next week. Yes, sweetie, here you are." She handed her husband a cookie.

Sam blinked. Danny smacked his face into his palm.

"Well, then, I guess that brings this meeting to a close," Mr. Gray said uncertainly. "We'll be meeting at my place next week, unless something happens. The usual chain will notify you. Mr. Baxter will let each of you know when you can leave," he added, apparently unnecessarily.

The congregation all began murmuring, most of the members crowding around Danny's parents. Danny looked in their direction, but his eyes were unfocused.

"Danny?"

Danny blinked out of his reverie, looking at Sam. "Yeah?"

"So where were you? And how did you get that bruise?"

Danny touched his cheek, looking a little surprised at the question. "W-well, like my parents said, it was hard to get in. I, uh, got bounced around a little in the Specter Speeder."

"The what?"

"It's an invention my parents made to travel through the Ghost Zone. Humans can phase right through most everything, but gravity's a problem for them. Thing is, human stuff can phase through everything too. So my mom and dad made a floating … er, car … to take them through the Ghost Zone." He grinned ruefully. "I wish humans could phase right through ectoplasmic rays, too."

"Oh," Sam said uncertainly. She had known that her family had grown up the Ghost Zone, but she'd become accustomed to the green sky and the darkening to black at 'sundown'. She hardly knew anything about the very place she lived – but it seemed like no one knew anything about the Ghost Zone in Amity. "But how did you get that between the time I saw you this morning and tonight?"

Danny's look was so startled that Sam sensed a lie coming on. "Never mind. I guess you don't really want to tell me."

"No! I mean, uh, I did get it this morning! It just took a while to show up. I mean, it's not like you guys would know – no offense. How long has it been since anyone's skin here has seen the sun?"

Sam stared at him. "Wow … I never thought about that. Are you really as tanned as you all look to me?" She pointed to Danny's family. Now that she thought about it, Danny was the palest among them.

Danny smiled a little. "No, not really."

The conversation seemed to drag to a halt. Sam licked her lips. "Uh, do you all have a place to live?"

Danny's gaze slid away from Sam. "We, uh, we found this place. Um. It's perfect for what Mom and Dad need, so I guess we're gonna move in there. It was … kind of abandoned."

"That's great," Sam said, trying to sound more enthusiastic than she felt. Danny seemed like he wanted to talk to her, but he also seemed inexplicably secretive. "So … that's why you came, then, huh. Because your family wanted to stop Pariah Dark."

Danny smiled at that, a cute, hopeful look on his face. "Yeah, exactly. I guess you see why I couldn't talk about it in the lunch room at school now," he added. "But I'm glad you're here! I wasn't sure if you were, you know, part of the whole resistance thing."

"Well, I kind of just got recruited tonight," Sam confessed.

"Cool," Danny said, seeming to gloss over the subject. "So, uh … what do you like to do? I'll bet you'll get along with my sister – everyone here says you're really smart. So is Jazz."

"Well, I don't know that I'm that smart." Sam blushed. "Classes here are totally pointless, and it's easy to get good grades since the teacher's don't care much either. But I guess I'm good at figuring things out."

"You sound like you have a lot of common sense," Danny said before blushing slightly. Sam laughed a little.

"I guess, compared to most of the people here. But everyone who lives in Amity is a little crazy. I don't think anyone could cope if they weren't."

"Oh, you haven't seen crazy," Danny said in a low voice.

"Danny! It's time to leave!" Jack's voice boomed over the slowly thinning crowd. Danny cringed.

"I guess I have to leave …"

"Well, I'll see you tomorrow, right?" Sam asked. "English class?"

"Yeah." Danny stood up. "See you tomorrow, Sam."

"See you then," Sam answered, waving.

_tbc_


	2. Too New

_Thank you to my several reviewers: GallyHoshi, AlisSilly, Nobody Famous, and Esme Kali Phantom. I'm glad you're enjoying this story_

**Too New**

The next day, it was as if the meeting the night before had never happened. Dash didn't talk to her. Valerie was still obnoxious and rude. And Danny …

Danny's bruise was already completely gone.

"Wow, you heal fast," Sam remarked when he walked into the classroom early.

Danny seemed surprised by this. "I guess. The bruise wasn't that bad, anyway," he remarked.

"Here, sit next to me," Sam suggested. "Hemingway doesn't even notice when we pass notes in this class, so we can talk about whatever we want."

"Really?" Danny slid into the seat next to her. "That seems weird. Is security really that lax?"

"Well, like I said, Pariah acts like the humans aren't even there. I think he has us educated just to keep the parents somewhat happy. I mean, you saw the … you know. There's not that many people who'd want to bother to fight back, since somehow we've still got all our basic necessities and money to buy stuff with. Besides … if you get caught …"

"Walker, huh?" Danny looked like he'd heard of the rule-happy ghost before.

"He's totally fixated on the law." Sam rolled her eyes.

"He's overboard, all right," Danny remarked darkly. "Have people disappeared?"

"A few," Sam admitted. "Wow … were they …?"

"Killed? Maybe." Danny's scowl deepened. "Walker's favorite part of the job is 'executioner', after all."

Sam was shocked enough that she didn't speak again before Hemingway came into the room to start class.

&

_He kills people? What if they turn into ghosts?_

_Not all ghosts were once people, actually. Only the really weak ones._

_Really? That seems weird._

_I dont know. Ask my mom._

_They said they've been ghost hunters for twenty years?_

_A little longer than that. Dad's been totally obsesed since high school. Pariah Dark is one of the best things that ever happened to him, in a wierd weird way._

_What? How?_

_He proved that ghosts are real._

_Funky._

_Funky? Who says that any more?_

_Thats it. Im not writing any more notes._

_Come on sam. Sam? Oh fine._

&

Sam didn't share any more classes with Danny that morning, but at lunch the new kid reappeared at her table. "Don't be mad that I said it's weird to say 'funky'," he pleaded before she said anything.

Sam grinned at him. It felt good to grin, she realized; she rarely had reason to before she met Danny. "I'm not mad, but I'm touched that you're so worried," she mocked. "Siddown."

Danny obeyed. "So … uh … is there anything at all fun to do in this town?"

"I'm surprised you're asking," Sam said. "Well, every so often new games and stuff sneak into town. I'm guessing it's from the same places that bring in all the stuff for new ghost weapons. And my parents have access to all the latest computers because they're ghost pleasers."

"I heard they're kind of buddy-buddy with the ghosts," Danny admitted. "I'll bet the … you know … want to know what's going on with them."

"Oh, I'll be glad to tell them anything they want to know," Sam promised. "I always knew something was wrong with my parents. I didn't think it was this _sinister_ though."

"Mom always says that the best war is fought with intelligence," Danny remarked.

"Your mom sounds smart."

"She's the second-smartest person I know. Jazz is the first."

"Nice. Where do I rank on that list?"

Danny blushed, caught in a faux pas. "Let me get to know you first," he protested. Sam snickered.

"Hope you don't take offense if I say you're a little jumpy."

Danny smiled ruefully. "My sister says the same thing. You should totally meet her." But suddenly he looked uneasy, his smile fading as he glanced down at his wrist. "Oh, no …"

"What?" Sam wanted to know.

"Oh, uh, nothing," Danny answered awkwardly, but it was obvious that it wasn't 'nothing'. "I have to go to the bathroom."

"You're a liar," Sam accused. "Do I really make you that nervous?"

The pained look he sent her way took her aback.

"I'd really like to stay, but I've _got to go_," Danny insisted. "Sorry. I'm really sorry. I'll explain later if I can," he promised.

Sam stared at him. "Look, I don't know you well enough to insist you explain everything you do," she said. "If you don't want to tell me, it's your business."

Danny looked relieved for all of a moment before he got to his feet. "Maybe I'll explain once you get to know me, then," he said hopefully before running out the cafeteria door.

&

This time, however, Danny reappeared before sixth period. He was breathing hard, visibly winded, and his hair was a tangled mess. "History, right? Please tell me I'm right," he begged as he pounded up to Sam.

"Right," Sam said slowly. "What happened to you?"

"Long story. Really long story. No time. Class," Danny panted, struggling with his locker. "Argh!"

"Oh, geez. What's your combination?" Sam asked, exasperated.

"Uh, twenty-two, fourteen, thirty," Danny recited, and Sam expertly opened his locker for him. "Thanks."

"No problem. What'd you do, run across Amity?"

"Closer than I'd like to admit," Danny wheezed in response. "Ugh." He sucked in a hard breath and let it out. "I'll tell you on the way home, okay? I promise."

Sam shook her head slowly. "All right."

&

"So … tell me what happened," Sam demanded the moment they were out of Casper High.

Danny had agreed to walk as far as Sam's house with her, but after that he claimed he had to go straight home. "We're unpacking, after all. I mean, what there is to unpack," he allowed. Sam felt like she was swallowing his whole life in Amity as it was, so she just let it go.

Danny ran a hand through his hair. "Well … I was running interference," he explained.

"Interference? With what?"

"Interference with ghosts," Danny answered. "We're still smuggling stuff in from the Amity border, so … someone's gotta keep Walker's guards busy."

Something clicked in Sam's head at that. "Hey … wait a minute. This is going to sound really weird, so don't get upset with me, but I, uh … I met this ghost."

Danny looked up at her sharply. "You met a ghost that wasn't one of Walker's guards?"

Sam rubbed the back of her neck. "Well, yeah," she said slowly. "He's got white hair and green eyes … actually, he looks a lot like you, incidentally," she realized. "I mean, build-wise."

Danny had tensed briefly at the suggestion that the ghost looked like him, but he relaxed when she clarified. "Huh. Go on," he said, now sounding slightly amused.

"Well, he was getting chased around by Walker's goons … and he said he was keeping them distracted. But he didn't say from what." She paused. "Are there ghosts who want to revolt against Pariah Dark, too?"

Danny's sighed softly, although Sam hadn't noticed him growing more nervous until he relaxed again. "Actually, yeah," he said. "We think. Walker has two prisons, you see … one for humans … and another for ghosts. He's been keeping the Ghost Zone in line for over a thousand years, or so we think."

"A thousand years? But he looks like he walked out of a bad 1930's movie," Sam protested.

Danny grinned at that. "Ghosts can get new looks just like humans can. He probably saw 'Casablanca' and liked it."

"So Walker keeps rebelling ghosts locked up, too," Sam surmised.

"Right. We _think_," Danny qualified again. "My mom is pretty sure of it, and so is Jazz, but my dad doesn't think so." He shrugged. "Anyway, maybe that ghost is a rebelling ghost helping break ghosts out of jail or something."

"You know," Sam said thoughtfully, "If there are ghosts that want to fight against Pariah …"

"Yeah, I've thought so too," Danny said, apparently catching her drift. "But the Guys in White and everyone else think it would be crazy to ally with ghosts." He sighed as if this pained him personally.

"Maybe it would be exactly the right crazy to throw Pariah off-guard," Sam said hopefully.

"Maybe," Danny said doubtfully. "You know he ruled the Ghost Zone for two thousand years, right?"

"_That_ I did know," Sam said ruefully. "It's all we talk about in History."

"Well, he spent a thousand years taking over it," Danny added. "He put all the ghosts in line. They're all scared of him. So I don't think he'd be too surprised by ghosts trying to fight him."

"Oh." Sam frowned. "How do you know so much about the Ghost Zone, anyway?"

Danny brightened a little. "Parents. Ghost Hunters. They've been studying this stuff for ages." He looked up. "This is your place, right?"

Sam blinked at him. "Yeah, it is. How did you know?"

"Well, er, it wasn't hard to find out," Danny said, visibly uncomfortable. "The Mansons were pretty famous even before their hometown got sucked into the Ghost Zone."

"You have an explanation for everything, don't you?" Sam joked.

Danny smiled a little. "I try. Jazz helps."

&

The rest of the week was pretty uneventful. Danny kept disappearing at odd times, but now that Sam had an explanation, she didn't ask about it. She also tried not to gawk too openly when he came in on Thursday with his arm bandaged all the way to the elbow.

"What happened to you?" she demanded.

"Wulf," Danny answered, his voice sour and laced with warning.

Sam let it drop.

&

On Friday night Sam was in her room, listening to the only band she had managed to get a hold of (Dumpty Humpty, apparently the hottest thing in the real world since N'Sync) at as loud a volume as possible. She knew her parents hated the band, and she loved annoying them. Besides, it covered the sound of her rapid typing as she worked on breaking into her parents' computers. If she could just get past their firewall, she would have full access to information about everything her parents were doing for the ghosts – she was sure of it.

Her window shattered.

Sam let out a startled scream as a black and white bundle crashed through her window, slamming into her dresser and collapsing in a heap on the floor. "Ow," the thing said pitifully, picking itself up with all the energy of a well-beaten wrestler.

It was the ghost boy.

"What are you doing?" Sam demanded.

The ghost's head whipped around, fixing a shocked green gaze with a vivid black eye on her. "I, ah, whoops?" he offered nervously.

"Get out!" she shouted, more out of surprise and fury than anything else. "Get! Out! Of! My! Room!"

"I didn't mean to land in your room!" the ghost protested, but his gaze shot upwards and out of her window. "Oh, geez, seriously, I'm sorry—!"

"Samantha! What is going on up there?" demanded a shrill voice – Sam's mom.

"Great! How am I going to explain that a ghost broke my window?" Sam hissed at the ghost.

"Tell her a ghost broke your window!" the ghost answered, apparently exasperated and obviously distracted. "It's not like she won't believe you!" And that suddenly, he was flying back out of her room.

"Over here, dipwads!" she heard, and when she poked her head carefully through the broken glass, she saw the ghost again leading off Walker's goons.

"Samantha?" Sam's mother poked her head in the room. "Oh my! What on earth did you do?"

Sam took a deep breath and let it out. "Actually, _Mother_ …"

&

It took a lot of explaining, but her parents bought it. "I can't believe Walker is having so much trouble capturing a fellow ghost," her mother huffed. "It's so unlike him!"

"Don't worry, Samantha," her father reassured. "We'll make sure Walker never lets a convict get near our house again."

"Fantastic," Sam said darkly, wishing her parents would just leave her alone in the spare bedroom she'd been regulated to.

They did eventually leave her alone, but Sam's plans for the night had been ruined. She was tired, and there was no way she was going to manage to break into her parents' firewall tonight.

She had just curled up to go to sleep when she heard a thump by the window. She sat up sharply. "Who's there?"

"It's just me," said an annoyingly familiar voice, and the ghost boy materialized next to the window. He still had a dark, blackened ring around one eye. "Sorry about breaking your window. I didn't go intangible in time," he explained himself.

"Well, you're just lucky my parents are loaded," Sam said tartly. "Fixing a window means nothing to them." But she hesitated. "What are you doing with Walker's goons all the time, anyway? It's like they're always chasing you."

"They _are_ always chasing me," the ghost answered sourly. "I think Walker's got a special contingent by now."

"Why?" Sam asked. "I mean, why are they chasing you?"

"Isn't it obvious?" The ghost looked mildly offended. "I'm not on Pariah's side."

"Whose side are you on, then?"

The ghost hesitated just a moment before a thin, ironic smile spread across his face. "Yours."

"Hah. Why would a ghost care about humans?" Sam snorted.

"Who says a ghost can't care about humans?" the ghost retorted. "Besides, it's not his town." His gaze darkened. "It's _mine._"

Sam blinked at that. "Hey, last time we talked … didn't you say you were trying to take the town back?"

"Probably," the ghost allowed. "I am. It's my birthright."

"Your what?" Sam tried not to sound as incredulous as she felt.

"I was born here," the ghost answered flatly. "And – and I guess you could say I haunt here. So it's _mine._ I was here before Pariah Dark."

"Awfully territorial, aren't we?" Sam observed dryly.

"Look," the ghost said, visibly becoming exasperated, "I don't like the way he does things. No one does. I don't even think any ghosts like it, except his mindless skeletons. I … I want Amity to be normal again. Safe again," he added. "I ... like humans. And I want humans to be happy and normal. Is that so hard to understand?"

"It's surprising, coming from anything spectral," Sam answered, blunt.

"Of course," the ghost answered tiredly. "Doesn't make sense to you. Well, I guess I wasn't expecting anything different." He broke off, looking out her window. "I'd better let you sleep."

Sam snorted. "That'd be great, thanks."

"Then I'll see you later," the ghost boy said, disappearing through the wall.

"How about never," Sam muttered under her breath. He was only confusing, and trouble seemed to follow him everywhere he went.

&

"I can't come," said the voice on the other end of the phone.

Sam made an exasperated sound. "Danny …"

"I know, I know," the boy answered. "I promised to meet you at the arcade, but I really … I just …"

Sam heard a lie coming on. "Don't bother," she said. "Don't lie to me about it. If you don't want to come, just say so. It's not like we're attached at the hip or something."

"But I do! I just can't," Danny answered.

There was a moment of awkward silence as Sam tried to come up for an explanation as to why Danny simply _couldn't come._ "You're not bedridden, are you?"

Danny laughed at that. "Nah, nothing that serious. Just … I can't see anyone right now. Family stuff. Can we reschedule for tomorrow?"

"I'd love to," Sam answered, trying not to sound exasperated, "but I'm being _forced_ to come with my _parents_ to come to some big hoopla party thing."

"Wow. The town has parties?" Danny was intrigued.

"Trust me, Danny, this isn't the sort of party you want to come to," Sam answered with a thin smirk. "No one would. Pariah Dark is supposed to make a cameo."

"Pariah Dark?" Danny sounded amazed.

"Oh, it's not that big of a deal," Sam huffed. "He comes in, he glares at you while you bow, then he leaves. We don't even know why he bothers. Look, I'll see you in class on Monday."

"If you say so," Danny answered doubtfully.

&

The party was long and boring, not unexpectedly. Sam hovered around the punch bowl, trying to ignore the little fleet of ghosts guarding all the entrances and exits. _This_ party was … not exactly a fundraiser, but more of a soundoff to his great majesty, Pariah Dark.

Sam hadn't thought anything of it until now, actually, but she was one of the few in Amity that had actually seen his face in person. His presence made the room a whole ten degrees colder, and he seemed to have no interest in the proceedings; he was usually only present for a few minutes at most.

It was his right hand ghost, Fright Knight, who was usually gracing the party with his almighty presence.

Frustratingly, Sam couldn't even manage to be unique at these things. She preferred black as a rule, whereas her parents preferred pink and other cute, pastel colors, but where the Fright Knight was, a Halloween theme seemed to overtake the town. _Everything_, even Sam's parents, was decked out in orange and black.

Sam was a little startled, however, when one easily recognizable blond-haired jock appeared next to her at the punch. He looked visibly uncomfortable in a black suit and tie. "Hey, Manson," he said.

Sam looked up at Dash incredulously. "I didn't know you were here."

"Yeah, well. My parents have to come to these things, and they drag me along too." Dash looked unhappy about this, and Sam could relate.

"That's exactly what happens to me," she confessed. "I don't even get the point of these things."

"I don't really either." Dash made a face. "Some ghost guy is all about making things like, kinda humanlike or something. I don't get it at all."

"Maybe it's just to make some of us feel important," Sam said pointedly, looking at her parents. "It's not Pariah's idea, though, that's for sure. It would never cross his mind to c—oh, look … here he comes now …"

"Bow before your king!" boomed the Fright Knight's voice.

Sam fell into a curtsy only because she'd seen someone 'smote down' for their insolence in not deferring to the Ghost Zone King. Dash did the same thing, and Sam tried not to snicker at the way he looked, awkwardly bowing.

She heard a rustle next to her.

"Sorry," said a familiar voice, and then everything grew hazy. She felt her body move, but not of her own accord; her eyes studied Pariah, but she didn't really register what they were observing.

Suddenly something slammed into her chest, and she sprawled on the floor.

When she woke up, there was pandemonium. Sam, dizzy, started to get up by supporting herself on the table; Dash was wrapping an arm around her shoulders, shouting "Manson?" at her.

She grimaced. "What happened …?"

"Who is that insolent upstart? I demand Walker's presence immediately!" Thundered Pariah. "Get the humans out!"

"Samantha!" her parents were running to her, pushing Dash aside. "Oh, Samantha, are you all right?"

"I'm fine, _Mother_," Sam answered, standing slowly. "Seriously, what happened?"

"How did he get past the shield?" Pariah was demanding.

"Some ghost was overshadowing you!" Sam's mother was almost in tears. "Luckily a guard ejected him from your body! Oh, Samantha – Samantha!"

Sam let herself be clung to, but seeing the gagging faces Dash made behind their back, Sam smiled slightly, gagging back.

"Mother, it's going to be fine," Sam groaned. "It's over. Whatever. No one cares about the human meat puppet, right?" Although Sam had never been overshadowed before, some of her classmates had been; they all claimed to not remember much of anything that had happened while a ghost possessed them. Sam found their observations to be fairly accurate. The ghosts seemed to be aware of this as well, and overshadowed humans were never questioned or, indeed noticed after the possession was over.

But why would a ghost overshadow her at a ghostly party?

_Tbc_

_Thanks again for reading! Please leave a little review; it's wonderful to know you're reading this story, and I want to know what you think._


	3. Questions

_A special thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter: JDPhoenix, GallyHoshi, AlisSilly, Shimegami-chan, Sqweakie the Wonder Mouse, Grey Raven North, Catadmin, Wushu, Purple Person, Nobody Famous, passing4insane, and Mystitat. Responses will hopefully be out by next morning. D_

**Questions**

Danny wasn't in first period on Monday. Sam tried not to be surprised, but she was beginning to wonder how big the Specter Speeder was, if he was still distracting ghosts from a smuggling run.

However, he appeared at lunch, just like usual … only this time, he had another boy in tow. "Hey, Sam. Sorry I missed you this morning. I, er, slept through my alarm." He sat down, motioning for the boy with him to sit too. "This is Tucker Foley. Tuck, Sam Manson."

"Hi," the boy said, altogether too cheery for Sam. He was black, wearing thick glasses and a red beret. "Nice to meet you, Sam." He didn't do it too obviously, but he was definitely eyeing her body. "Very nice to meet you."

"Ew, are you hitting on me?" Sam asked, raising an eyebrow. "I'm not for sale, you know."

Danny laughed. Sam glared at him. "I met Tucker this weekend. He lives two doors down from me," Danny said. "He's part of the … you know."

Sam blinked. "Really?" She looked back at Tucker, this time observing him in a new light. "You hate Pariah, too?"

"Not so loud," the boy protested, ducking his head a little. "Man, how lousy would it be if we were busted sitting in the cafeteria?"

"You're in my PE class," Sam realized.

"Well, duh. I've lived here my whole life," Tucker snorted. "I'm in your science class, too. If we actually had school dances, you'd be the first person I asked," he snorted.

"Thanks, I think," Sam answered, unsure what to make of Tucker. She'd never made a point of knowing everyone in school, after all. "Well, Danny, I missed you this morning."

"Really? Why?" Danny bit into his sandwich.

"'Cause I have a story to tell you." Sam launched into the tale of her overshadowing experience.

Danny seemed to take this in stride, but Tucker was clearly intrigued. "Wow, a ghost on the loose that Pariah doesn't like, personally? Crazy," he said enthusiastically.

"I'll bet it's the same one that the goons have been chasing around all week," Sam snorted. "He claims he was here before Pariah, but this is the first time I've seen him. And he seems to have taken a very _personal_ interest in me for some reason." The thought of having been overshadowed by her ghost stalker was a little sickening.

Danny was concentrating on his food unusually hard.

"Walker's never had a problem capturing a rogue ghost before," Tucker said thoughtfully. "I wonder why this one is so much trouble?"

"You mean there are other rogue ghosts?" Sam asked. "Danny told me that there are ghosts that don't like Pariah and probably want to fight him, but … how would you know how much trouble Walker's had with them?"

"Sam, I'm a techno geek," Tucker answered, wearing the label proudly like a badge of honor. "Just about anything you want to know about ghosts can be found on a computer somewhere in Amity. It's all just a matter of knowing how to get to it." He leaned forward conspiratorially. "And I happen to have a record of all of Walker's ghostly inmates."

"I told you Walker had a ghost prison," Danny suddenly interjected.

"Hey, great!" Sam cheered. "Can I see it? Maybe it has that ghost kid on it."

"Sure! I'll show it to you tonigh—well, maybe tomorrow," Tucker amended. "There's a _thing_ I have to go to."

Sam remembered belatedly that the resistance was meeting. "Right, me too."

"Me three." Danny polished off his sandwich with gusto. "Could be worse, though. At least Pariah's not where I'm going."

Sam grinned at that.

She didn't, however, mention that she'd noticed the dark circles under Danny's eyes.

&

"All right, all right! Everyone sit down, listen up," called Mr. Baxter. The little pocket of resistance members wrapped up their conversations in whispers, then took their seats.

Sam found herself sitting between Tucker and Danny. Danny had slept through History, much to Sam's amusement. She wondered what on earth he'd been doing the night before.

"All right." Mr. Baxter pressed his hands together and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. "For the first time in years, we have a fighting chance. The Fentons have been smuggling in ghost-hunting equipment, and hopefully within the next six months we'll be ready to start ejecting the ghosts from Amity."

"But we're _in_ the Ghost Zone. What difference does it make if we eject ghosts from Amity? They'll just come back in," protested Lancer.

"Actually, we have a solution for that!" This was Maddie, who stood up with a placating motion. "We're working on creating a Ghost Shield! We will use it to encompass Amity, then eject the ghosts from the town."

"Fantastic!" Mr. Gray looked excited by this news. "But … if it's powered by electricity, it would be simple to disable."

"It won't be powered by electricity, silly," Maddie said cheerfully. "We're making a generator that is powered by ectoplasm."

"How will that help? It's the enemy that's ectoplasmic." This was from Elliot.

"Oh, ah," interjected Jazz, "It's okay! The Ghost Zone has tons of ambient ectoplasm! Anything powered by ectoplasm should have plenty of power!" She sounded slightly panicked.

Danny shifted uncomfortably.

"Even if we put up a shield around Amity, Pariah Dark will just come after us – and we can't stop him indefinitely, can we? We want to get out of the Ghost Zone, not just live in a shield," said Mr. Foley.

"Uh, actually, I have a hint about …" Danny trailed off as all eyes turned towards him.

"Go on, Danny," encouraged Jazz, nudging him.

"Uh, I have hint about where Pariah Dark gets his power," Danny said slowly. "He has the Ring of Rage and the Crown of Fire."

"What are those?" Sam wanted to know.

"Together the two artifacts give the wearer power that's like a hundred times greater than their natural power. And Pariah is pretty strong naturally," Danny explained.

"So? We can't stop him, then," protested Mrs. Baxter.

"We're working on that one, too," boomed Jack. "The Fenton Suit is already a quarter done!"

"But the interface is glitchy," Maddie threw in, her tone cautioning. "It may be a while before it's ready."

"It's a suit that enhances the wearer's abilities 100 times, just like the Ring and Crown," Jazz added, clearly sensing the congregation's confusion. "Hopefully it'll give us the edge we need to get the Ring and Crown away from Pariah!"

"And if we do that? What then?" asked Mr. Foley.

"Pariah Dark was locked away in a sarcophagus by a group of ghosts called the Ancients over 1000 years ago," Jazz answered. "If we can locate the sarcophagus, we can lock him away in it again, after we get his sources of power away from him."

"And we'd need the Skeleton Key to do it," Maddie added.

There was a moment of silence.

"That's a lot of 'if's," Tucker said quietly.

"Well, for the first time, we have a plan," Mr. Baxter said, clearly trying to sound cheery. "At least it's a start."

&

The next night found Sam at Tucker's house. Danny had made a brief appearance at the front door, pleading 'hide me!', but when his parents appeared around the corner he looked defeated.

"What's going on?" Sam asked, rather incredulous at Danny's behavior.

"Oh … nothing …"

"Doesn't look like nothing," Tucker grinned.

"Danny! Honey! Don't you want to help us test the Fenton Foamers?" cried a distraught Maddie, pounding up to Danny's side.

Danny gave his new friends a pleading look, but there was nothing they could do in the face of parental authority. Sam made a weak protest along the lines of needing help with her History homework, but Jack shot her down cheerfully.

"That can wait! The Foamers can't!"

Danny was led away, apparently unhappy. "Well …" Sam trailed off. "That was strange. Even for Danny. And he's pretty strange," she remarked.

"He's pretty close to his family," Tucker observed.

Sam shot him a look of incredulity. "Close to his family? That looked more like outright terrified."

"Well ... most of the time he's not like that," Tucker said. "I mean, you should have seen him this weekend! He and his sister are like best buds."

"Yeah? Speaking of which, isn't she like sixteen? Shouldn't she be going to our school?"

"Danny says she's starting next week. If she doesn't get started soon, though, you know she'll be pushed into working for Pariah," Tucker remarked.

"I know," Sam had said darkly. She stared after Danny's family. "I wonder what will happen when the Fentons are forced into working for him, too."

But now they were parked in front of Tucker's computer. "Toldja I had the whole Walker database on my computer," Tucker said proudly.

"Impressive," Sam said, narrowing her eyes and absently twisting the new silver ring on her middle finger. The ring was a gift from the Fentons; it apparently worked like the ring that Mr. Baxter had forced Sam to wear at the first meeting, and prevented overshadowing. "Wear it all the time," Maddie had instructed. "But if you do have to take it off, don't worry! Ghosts can't detect it, and if they put it on your finger, they'll accidentally expel themselves!" Tucker was wearing one too. Sam hadn't seen one on Danny's finger, but she thought there was a good chance he had something else that prevented overshadowing – probably something cooler than a thick, dull-looking ring.

"Very impressive," Sam reiterated. She started scrolling down through the listings. "Lunch Lady? The Box Ghost? Skulker? Who are these ghosts?"

"I think most of them were haunting Wisconsin," Tucker answered. "There was some thing I found on an old database about ghost attacks like right around the time that Amity disappeared into the Ghost Zone. Everyone thought Wisconsin was next to go, but then the ghosts just disappeared."

"Walker got 'em. If they're in jail, then they don't work for Pariah, do they?" Sam remarked, scrolling down. "Hey, look at this. The records say that most of these ghosts have had at least one jailbreak in the last four years."

"And they're all back in jail. So?"

"Just find it kind of weird," Sam answered. "Hey … a wolf named Wulf. That's who Danny said attacked him last Thursday. Wait … I think I've seen him … but it was a while ago."

"Look, it says he's on probation – Pariah Dark has him commissioned," Tucker pointed out. "Weird."

"The power to tear holes in the dimensional fabric?" Sam raised her eyebrows at the fine print. "That'd be _so_ useful – if he'd use it for us!"

"But he doesn't. He uses it for Pariah." Tucker rested his head on his desk. "Looking through this just made me wonder, you know? There's only four ghosts that actually have personality that _follow_ Pariah, and we don't even know the name of one of them."

"Maybe I've seen him. What's he look like?" Sam asked, starting to scroll down again.

"Black hair spiked like horns, red eyes, blue skin … wears all white and a red cape. Mom says we've only gotten glimpses of him."

"I think I have seen him," Sam said, turning to look at Tucker. "He's been at a couple of Pariah's parties, but all he does is just grin and then disappear." She sighed. "Maybe my mom and dad's computer would have some information about it, but I can't break their firewall!"

"A firewall? That's it?" Tucker snorted. "Sam, I could have that down in an hour. You just name the time and place."

Sam blinked at him. "You serious?"

"Two words, Sam, two words: Techno Geek." Tucker grinned. "Breaking into computers is what I do."

&

"Well, this has all been very informative," Sam remarked an hour later, "but the ghost boy isn't on here."

"You're sure?" Tucker asked, scrolling to Johnny 13. "It's not him?"

Sam shook her head. "He has white hair and green eyes – and he doesn't ride a motorcycle. At least I haven't seen him on one."

"Hmm. Maybe he's not a fugitive, then." Tucker rubbed his chin. "I dunno. I promise I'll look into it for you, though."

"Thanks, Tucker." Sam smiled at him, and Tucker's answering smile was self-conscious but genuine.

"My pleasure."

&

Two days went by relatively without incident. Danny had begun staying present throughout the school day, which apparently prompted some of the more popular people, including Kwan, to take an interest in him. Well, to be truthful (Sam admitted to herself), a lot of people had taken interest in Danny, and she had found herself boosted into a slightly more popular status as people kept asking her about him (where is he? Has he told you where he's from? Why did he come here?). Tucker, too, experienced this boost of popularity, which he took to like a fish to water. Unfortunately, this did not turn up any love interests for him.

Since Monday, Sam had quickly learned that Tucker wasn't interested in _her_ specifically. He was interested in every girl on campus. How she had missed this she didn't know, but Sam chalked it up to 1)being highly anti-social and 2)not having ever held a significant conversation with him until Danny showed up with Tucker in tow.

She was beginning to wonder if she was more shallow than she thought she was.

In any case, as Sam had realized early on, Danny was extremely high-strung. This probably accounted for why, when he was startled by a squeal from Star when he walked by, he dropped his tray and ruined her shirt and skirt with his chocolate milk.

"Hey!" Star gasped, staring at her shirt, and then, much to Danny's visible horror, she burst into tears.

Sam hid a snicker behind her hand. Tucker looked on with wide eyes.

Danny was stammering something about being sorry when Kwan loomed over him. Unfortunately, the social rules of high school still applied on some level in this manic city, and Kwan was required by unspoken law to defend his sometimes-girlfriend's honor.

"You ruined my shirt!" Star moaned. "Kwan! Do something!"

Kwan looked disappointed by the idea, but he grabbed Danny by the back of his shirt (he was scrambling to offer napkins) and hauled him away from Star. "Dude, that was so not cool," he professed.

Danny looked frustrated. "I said I was sorry a billion times!" he protested.

"Sorry doesn't fix her shirt!" Kwan took a deep breath. "Sorry, man, but on principle, I gotta pound y--!"

He never got any further than that, because Danny had punched him in the chin.

Sam halfway stood up, wondering if a fight was about to break out. Kwan staggered backwards, grasping his jaw. "What was that for?"

Danny still had a fist cocked, but he looked panicked. "Look, I'm sorry, okay? I'll pay for the outfit if you want."

"You punched me!" Kwan gasped.

"You punched him!" Sam, Tucker, and Star all spoke at the same time, then stared at each other.

Danny looked between the four of them with visible exasperation. Sam had a moment of déjà vu, but she couldn't identify why, exactly. "I just – just wanted to stop the fight before it started," he explained, his voice dropping limply as he deflated.

"Well, looks like you succeeded," Sam said slowly.

Principal Ishiyama was on the move.

"Daniel Fenton! Kwan Oh! In my office!" the lady thundered.

"Busted," Tucker mumbled to Sam.

&

"Detention for a week, starting tomorrow?" Tucker slapped his forehead. "Dude, that is bogus."

"It doesn't matter, anyway," Sam added. "You could do whatever you wanted and it still wouldn't matter. You'll still have the same job when you get that diploma."

"Sam, stop thinking like that," Danny said, his gaze fixed on the sidewalk in front of them. "In a year Amity will be part of the _real_ world again, so it _does_ matter."

"You're awfully optimistic," Sam remarked, raising an eyebrow.

She saw a thin smile flicker on Danny's face. "Well, I am the one closest to my parents' experiments all the time. I totally believe in them, even if it is 'a lot of if's'," Danny quoted Tucker. "Mom was telling me that – well … maybe we should talk about it someplace else."

"How about your place?" Sam suggested. "You could show us the cool stuff your parents are working on."

"How about not?" Danny sighed. "Not that I don't want to have you guys over, but can we wait for, oh, a couple days? Just until everything's organized," he promised.

"Then how about my place?" Tucker suggested. "I've got the latest version of Doomed."

"You got Doomed IV?" Sam asked, amazed. "Even _I _don't have Doomed IV!"

"You play video games?" One could almost hear the '_but you're a girl!_' tacked onto the end.

Sam glared at Tucker. "What, because I happen to have boobs and wear a skirt I can't play a video game? Get a grip," she snapped.

"No, no!" Tucker waved his hands in front of his face. "You've got me all wrong! I think that _rocks!_"

"Then it's a date – not literally," she added, just in case. "Danny?"

"Pass," Danny sighed. "But tomorrow for sure. I'm supposed to paint my sister's room today."

"Ooh," Sam and Tucker both made faces. "What color?" Sam asked.

"Pink. Bright, bright pink," Danny answered.

He laughed at Sam's face and waved farewell.

&

Four hours of productive Doomed time later, Sam was walking home. She felt strangely satisfied. For the last ten years of her life she'd had only minor acquaintances at school and no friends to speak of; she'd felt cut off, oppressed. Now, she had friends. She had found a cause.

And apparently, all this just in time for the utter eruption and disruption of the relative normalcy of Amity.

She was still a good three blocks from her house with ten minutes to spare before curfew when something invisible slammed into her side. Sam yelped, sent tumbling out into the street; she put out her hands to stop the somersaults and they landed on air.

The air grunted, and the culprit flashed into visibility.

"You!" Sam said incredulously. "Why are _you_ here?"

The ghost boy coughed hard, grimacing. "I never went anywhere."

"Ugh, you know what I mean," Sam snapped.

A car horn blared.

Sam looked up in horror to see a car coming over the hill (one of the few still in use, since gas was … well, _very_ expensive to say the least). There was no way she could get out of the way in time. She gasped, and a cold hand latched onto her arm tightly.

The brakes on the car screeched, and there was a _whoosh_ of air – then silence as the car came to a screeching halt. Sam opened her eyes a crack.

Her nose was an inch from the rear bumper.

_Did that car just drive right through me?_ Sam wondered, patting herself down. She was okay. There was no busted Sam body laying anywhere, so she hadn't just turned into a ghost. She was okay!

"You're welcome," came a dry voice, and Sam realized abruptly that it was the ghost boy talking to her.

"You did that?" she asked.

"Nope, it was the other ghost holding you by the arm," the boy answered softly. "Oh—crap--!"

Out of the car came Kwan Oh. Well … his body, in any case. Even as he stood up, the basketball star collapsed as none other than Walker himself stood in front of Sam and the ghost boy.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" Walker clicked his tongue impatiently. "Don't you ever take the hint, kid?"

Sam's eyes flickered back to the ghost kid, who looked like a deer caught in headlights. "I-I—er …"

"And you," Walker said, his gaze shifting slightly towards Sam, "It's past curfew. You're not in your home. That's against the rules."

Sam gaped at him. "No fair! I still have five minutes!" she pointed to her watch.

"Your watch is wrong," Walker answered calmly. "And I'm terribly sorry about that. I'd love to let you go, but I can't. I've got to obey the rules too." He snapped his ghostly fingers.

"Don't think so!" In a sudden burst of power, the ghost boy's arms wrapped around Sam and they shot upwards. Sam let out a startled yell, supported awkwardly by an arm around her back; she wrapped her arms around the ghost boy's shoulders for security.

"Put me down!" she gasped.

"I'll leave you at your parents' place," the ghost boy answered. "After I've shaken them off our tail--!"

"Stop him!" It was Walker's voice, and Sam peeked over the ghost boy's shoulder to see amongst her whipping hair the ghost flying towards them, followed by a small army of goons.

There was a gut-wrenching change of direction, and suddenly Sam was staring at a retreating wall, and another retreating wall, and another – she turned her head and let out a little scream as the ghost boy didn't hesitate, flying towards a wall at top speed. She closed her eyes at the last second, but there was no impact, and Sam opened her eyes in surprise.

"Intangible," the boy panted. "This won't fool him for long, but--!" He squeezed his eyes shut, his speed ebbing just slightly, and abruptly another ghost boy split off from the ghost, identical down to the last detail. The duplicate peeled off and shot off through the sky just as they exited the building the boy had flown through, and Sam saw a squad race off after it.

"What was that?" she asked breathlessly, shouting over the wind.

"Doppelganger, something like that," the ghost answered. "No questions right now. Talk later." He took another hairpin turn.

And abruptly, the wild roller coaster ride came to a stop. There was no time react as a net came out of nowhere and wrapped itself around both Sam and the ghost boy. Sam grunted, a sound echoed by the ghost, and there was a hard impact with the ground, Sam and the ghost both tumbling end over end several times until they were a tangled mess within a tangled net.

Sam groaned aloud as they came to a halt, reaching up within her limited mobility to grasp her head. "Ugh …"

But the ghost kid was shaking his head frantically, his eyes on the ghosts now starting to surround the net. "Don't do it! Don't do it, I swear I'll come qu—Aaaugh!"

Sam barely heard his cry of pain over her own, as the net electrocuted her.

She slipped into unconsciousness with her cheek resting on a cold chest.

_**Tbc**_

_So I had a question: is anyone curious enough about Danny to want a companion story from his point of view? I'm just wondering._

_Thanks again to everyone who is reviewing! You have no idea how much you've made my day(s). And thank you especially to everyone who hits that little review button again. D_


	4. Trapped

_This story is oddly getting to be more and more fun to write. Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter: AlisSilly, GallyHoshi, Sqweakie the Wonder Mouse, Karen Kano, alow, and CharmedNightSkye.Every review is deeply appreciated!_

**Trapped (in a lie)**

When Sam came to, she was first aware of the tingling in her arms and her thudding heart. A moment after that, she realized the wind was whipping through her hair again, and thin arms where wrapped around her shoulders and looped under her knees. "Wha … what's going on …?" She blinked awake.

She was still in the ghost boy's arms, and they were flying. "Are you okay? I didn't hurt you, did I?"

Sam looked down at her hands. "I can't uncurl my fingers," she said.

"Normal reaction to being electrocuted," the ghost answered. His eyes were facing front, and they flashed through a building. "Walker's chasing my copy, but some of his goons are still following us."

"Uh, what happened?" Sam wanted to know.

"I broke through the net and took off. I don't think Walker was expecting that." The ghost seemed pleased. "You're okay? I mean, except for the fingers?"

Sam worked on flexing her wrists. "I think so. What did you do now, anyway?"

"Nothing! I mean, all I have to do is show up and they start chasing me now," the ghost protested. He slowed, glancing back. "I think we've lost them for now." He floated down into a building and placed Sam gently in a desk chair – it looked for all the world like an office building, if one discounted the ghost machinery visible through the floor-to-ceiling windows of the office. "I'll take you home, okay? Just … let me take a minute." His voice echoed eerily, and it took Sam a moment to realize it wasn't because of the room. The ghost boy leaned against the wall and slid down it to a sitting position, letting his head fall back against the wall.

Sam watched him with interest as he panted, his eyes closed. "Are you okay?" she asked.

The ghost opened one green eye and looked at her, and a thin smile crossed his lips. "I think that's the first time you've ever asked. Yeah, just tired. Making copies takes a lot out of me," he admitted.

"I didn't know ghosts could do that."

"Not all of them can. Just ... a couple." He closed his eye again.

Sam's fists slowly relaxed, and she flexed her fingers carefully as the tingling faded. It occurred to her that this was a great opportunity; Danny had talked about allying with the ghosts, and maybe everyone else thought it was a crazy idea, but Sam didn't see why it was such a big deal. If they were enemies of Pariah, why couldn't they help? Maybe they wanted to. They probably did, if they were being locked up by Walker. "You said earlier that you were on our side," she recalled quietly.

The ghost nodded. "You believe me now?" he asked, his voice slightly hostile.

"Maybe not totally. I mean, for all I know all this rescuing is just a trick to get me to trust you. Besides, _you're _the one that got me into this situation," she pointed out. "But I do think you're against Pariah Dark." She raised her hand, twisting the ring on her finger again. "Were you the ghost that possessed me at Pariah's big hoopla thing on Sunday?"

The ghost's eyes opened and focused on the ring. An ironic smile crossed his face. "My—the Fentons gave you that, huh?" he asked. "… yeah, I did. I said I was sorry, though."

"I thought I heard you say 'sorry'," Sam smirked. "You know what this ring does?"

"Yeah." The ghost stretched his arms over his head and rested them on his knees again.

"So why did you overshadow me?" Sam wanted to know.

The specter raised an eyebrow. "None of your business."

"Hey, you overshadowed _me!_ What you're doing in _my_ body is my business! How do you expect me to trust you if you're keeping secrets from me?" Sam retorted.

The ghost opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, a scowl flickering across his face, before he closed it again. "… I was spying on Pariah Dark."

"Why?"

"I needed to know something." The ghost brushed off the question.

"What did you need to know?"

"Can you stop with the twenty questions?" the ghost snapped. "Geez!"

Sam pursed her lips. "Look. I … I don't think it's totally crazy to work with a ghost. You guys have advantages over humans, and if you're against Pariah, then why can't we be allies? But if you've got something you know, tell me so I can tell – tell the people I know."

"You already know what I found out!" The specter shot back, floating to his feet. "Pariah's got the Ring of Rage and the Crown of Fire, okay?"

Sam drew back slightly. "Hey … how did you know I knew that already? … can you read my mind?" She recoiled at the thought.

The ghost's shoulders drew up as he pressed back against the wall behind him. "No! No, of course not!" His eyes darted away. "I, uh, I figured you knew since you were at the party! I just couldn't stay invisible long enough to get a good look myself, so I borrowed your body! And I'm sorry, so leave me alone already!"

Sam crossed her arms, pleased to have the motor skills back to do so. "Right." She sighed.

There was a moment of awkward silence before the ghost boy broke it. "So … er … what's your name? You never told me," he asked.

Sam blinked, looking back up at the ghost. "You first."

The ghost hesitated, then said slowly, "I never really … I don't exactly have one."

"None at all?" Sam raised her eyebrows. "Not even from when you were alive?"

The specter panicked slightly in a way that reminded Sam sharply of Danny. _Weird association! It's just the build and the hairstyle._ "I, er, don't remember it!"

Sam smirked slightly. "I'm going to call you … hmm. Let's see. How about Phantom?"

"Phantom?" the ghost asked.

"From _The Phantom_, the American ripoff of _The Phantom of the Opera_," Sam explained. "Since you're ambiguously evil and totally fixated on a girl."

"Hey!"

"Too late! You're Phantom," Sam crowed. "I'm Sam. Nice to meet you. I guess."

The ghost's scowl at the reasoning for his name faded as Sam stuck out a hand. He took it firmly. "Nice to meet you," he said, before suddenly sticking his head through the wall.

He drew his head back inside. "Okay, the coast is clear," he reported. "I think, anyway. Let's get you back home."

&

The flight back home was far more lazy than the frenzied flight from Walker and his goons. He floated down through the roof, letting Sam down onto her feet gently. "I, er … would you mind if I dropped by from time to time? You know, when I'm not getting chased around by Walker."

Sam sighed. "Is there any way you could warn me ahead of time?" she asked.

The ghost looked around in apparent confusion. "Er …"

"Look, just knock on my window, and if I shake my head, don't come in," Sam answered. "Fair enough?"

"Fair enough," the ghost agreed. "You're gonna be okay explaining to your parents how you got to your room without walking in the front door?"

"Phantom, I've escaped out my window so many times my parents were thinking about boarding it up," Sam snorted. "Don't worry about it."

"All right." He smiled slightly at her. "Sorry about tonight."

"Nah. If we can get some allies together, all the better," Sam answered. "I'll … I know I've got some friends who'll work with me on this. We'll get our people's heads on straight."

"Thanks." Phantom glanced out the window. "I'll see you later?"

"See you later," Sam agreed.

Phantom floated out through the closed window, and started down the street as Sam watched.

Then out of nowhere, a green blast hit the ghost in the chest.

Sam jumped, emitting a startled gasp. Phantom tumbled back through the sky, righting himself uncomfortably as about twenty of Walker's goons popped up from the surrounding buildings, along with Walker. Phantom's wrists and ankles were surrounded by a green, flickering glow that Sam had seen before – ghost cuffs.

She cracked open her window as Walker floated up to the dazed ghost.

"—come back here," Walker was saying in his phony accent. "You may be able to sense my forces, but you can't sense them when they're overshadowing humans, can you?"

Phantom mumbled something that Sam couldn't make out.

"Move one inch and you'll be turned into an ectoplasmic smear on the sidewalk," Walker sneered. He reached down and grabbed Phantom's cuffs, dragging the ghost boy after him as he shot off into the sky. "Let's go, men!"

"No," Sam gasped.

She had to do something!

_Danny. Danny's parents can do something, can't they? But it's a ghost, will they really want to defend a – Oh, I know Danny will! He thinks allying with ghosts isn't such a bad idea!_ She grabbed her phone and dialed Danny's cell.

It rang and rang and rang, and finally went to voicemail. Sam slammed her phone down in frustration. "Where are you?" she shouted at the ceiling. "Tucker, Tucker …" she dialed another number.

The phone rang twice, then the boy picked up. "Hello?"

"Tucker, it's Sam," she said hurriedly. "Remember that ghost boy I was looking for on your computer?" She launched into the tale of her adventure. "He's just been taken by Walker and his goons!" she finished. "And just when I thought we might actually have a chance of working with the ghosts against Pariah!"

"Wow, that blows," Tucker said after a moment of stunned silence. "Did you try to call Danny?"

"Yeah, and he's not picking up," Sam answered, frustrated. "I know he'd help out, but I can't reach him!"

"Sounds like it might be too late anyway," Tucker said doubtfully. "I mean, if Walker's already gone …"

"I know," Sam sighed, kicking her bed. "Argh! This is making me nuts," she groaned.

"Maybe you should call Danny's house and ask to speak to Danny?" Tucker suggested.

"Oh, geez, why didn't I think of that?" Sam groaned, smacking herself on the head.

"'Cause you're flipping out," Tucker answered.

"Do you know the meaning of 'rhetorical question', Tucker?"

"Nope!" The teen chuckled. "Give him a call and call me back, okay?"

"Will do," Sam answered, hanging up. She dialed Danny's home phone number.

The phone rang three times, and then a young, feminine voice Sam recognized momentarily as Jazz's picked up the line. "Hello? Dad, no, I got it! Hello?"

"Jazz?" Sam asked. "It's Sam Manson."

"Oh, Danny's friend!" Jazz said cheerfully. "Good! We were just wondering where he disappeared to. He was supposed to get home half an hour ago."

Sam felt her stomach drop into her shoes. "He's not home?" she asked.

There was a confused pause. "He's not with you?" Jazz asked.

_Oh boy._ "No, he's not," Sam answered flatly. "I needed to talk to him. Uh, can you have him call me when he gets home?" she requested. _What is he doing out after curfew? If he gets himself arrested, I swear …_ And this time, Danny couldn't use the excuse of helping his family out. They clearly had no idea where he was. _Was he lying all this time?_

Jazz made a frightened sound. "Uh … er, what did you need to talk to him about?" she asked.

Sam grimaced. "I … er …" _Danny said Jazz was really smart. I guess I might as well try explaining to her? _"Listen, don't take this the wrong way, but I think I've found a ghost that can help us out – and he's just been taken away by Walker's goons. I was hoping I could get some help saving him, but I guess it's probably too late now, so never mind!" Sam aborted.

But Jazz was intensely interested. "_What?"_ she hissed. "Describe this ghost!"

"Er – he's, uh, got white hair, green eyes—"

The sound Jazz made was indescribable, somewhere between exasperated and horrified. "Augh! S-Sam, sorry, I've got to run. I'll relay the message to Danny, I promise—" _Click._

Sam stared at the phone in her hands and wished desperately that she could fly too, and go to the Fenton's to find out what had just happened.

&

Tucker could offer nothing but his sympathy and accompanying worry about Danny's apparent disappearance. Sam hung up depressed and confused before trying to lay down to go to sleep.

_Where could Danny have gone? Why wouldn't he be at home? I know he wants to be friends with me, but I don't really know anything about him. I've never been to his house and I hardly know anything about his parent's inventions, even though I'm friends with their son. He won't even let me into his house! What kind of secrets is he keeping?_

_And the ghost kid … Phantom … what can I do about this? Nothing. Nothing at _all_, unless I tell the Fentons about him. They have all the stuff. But we're not equipped to break a ghost out of ghost jail. We don't even know where ghost jail is! Or maybe the Fentons do. Even if they do, that would be totally blowing our cover for someone who we don't even know is an ally … I guess there's really nothing _to_ do. Darn it!_

_But why did Danny's sister react like that to the news about Phantom? She seemed more worried about that than about Danny._

_Something is going on with the Fentons, and it revolves around Danny. I am _so_ going to grill him about this in the morning!_

&

But Danny wasn't in school the next day.

Sam spent the entire day waiting for him to make an appearance. She sat with Tucker at lunch, but Danny didn't show up. She watched for him in sixth period, but Danny never came. She waited at her locker for half an hour after school, but Danny never appeared.

"Where _is_ he?" Sam demanded as she walked home with Tucker. "This is insane! First the Phantom, then Danny!"

"What? Phantom?" Tucker wanted to know.

"It's what I dubbed the ghost boy," Sam answered irritably. "I'll bet Danny got himself arrested last night! The idiot," she growled.

Tucker shrugged. "Maybe we should go over to Danny's house and see if we can find out what happened to him," he suggested.

"Yeah. Let's do that," Sam answered, her voice low and dangerous. "And when we see him, I'm going to get this big, stupid secret _thing_ out of him if I have to shake him all night!"

"Woah, woah! Remind me not to get on your bad side," Tucker joked, raising his hands defensively. "I'm sure he's just sick."

"He still hasn't called me back," Sam hissed. "He would have called if he was just sick."

"Maybe he was sleeping all day."

"Stop trying to rationalize for him and just let me be angry!" Sam snapped.

"Okay, okay …"

When they reached the nondescript house that was Danny's home, Sam pressed the doorbell so hard the plastic creaked under her finger. It took a moment, but Jazz was the one that came to the door, her hair frazzled and her features showing stress. "Sam? Tucker? This is a really bad time," she said nervously.

"Look, I – we – want to speak to Danny," Sam shot back, bristling. "He wasn't in school today, and—"

"Sam, I'm sorry," Jazz said, looking back into the house for a moment before peeking back out the door. "Not now. Danny … Danny can't speak to anyone right now."

"He's hiding from me, isn't he?" Sam roared. "I'm just worried about him, and I just want to find out—"

Her phone rang.

Sam, Tucker, and Jazz all stared at Sam's backpack as the lonely notes of an old 80's band floated through the air, and Sam ripped open her backpack to answer the cell. "What?"

"Samantha Manson! Is that any tone to take with your mother?" screeched Mrs. Manson's voice.

Sam sighed. "Oh, it's you … what do you want, _Mother?_"

"Come home right away!" Her mother sounded both angry and stressed. "Mr. _Walker_ is here to see you."

For the second time in only 24 hours, Sam felt her stomach drop to the floor. She swallowed. "Why would Walker want to see _me?_"

"I don't know! Just come home!" Her mother hung up.

Sam stared at her phone before clicking it shut.

"Uh …" she looked at Jazz and Tucker.

"Walker wants to see you?" Tucker asked. "That … can't be good."

"No, it can't," Sam sighed. "I guess I have to go, though."

"Hang on a moment," Jazz said suddenly, and the door slammed shut.

Sam and Tucker blinked in unison.

A minute later the door opened again, and Jazz pressed a tube of lipstick into Sam's hand. "Here. It's a easily concealed ecto-weapon, in case Walker tries to arrest you or something. If he does, press this." Jazz produced a small buzzer and handed it to Sam. "It'll send out a distress signal and I promise someone will come help you out."

"Uh … all this trouble over me? If I get arrested, you guys will just be blowing your—"

"Not so loud!" Jazz hissed. "Just take them and let us figure out the rest, okay? Good luck!" She disappeared back inside the house and shut the door behind her.

"Want me to walk you home?" Tucker offered.

Sam shook her head. "Nah. I'm going to have to handle this myself." She trudged down the street, her heart pounding so hard she could hear it in her ears with every step.

&

"Well hello, Samantha." Walker's voice was deep and somehow more intimidating than it had been the night before. "I believe we met last night."

Sam drew in a deep breath through her teeth and let it out. Her parents were glaring at her from over Walker's shoulder, but they weren't nearly as worrying as the warden ghost himself. "Yeah, I guess," she said slowly. "Actually, we met at one of those galas a few years ago, but …"

"Right, right," Walker agreed, his hands clasped behind his back.

"This isn't about missing curfew last night, is it?" Sam asked. "I thought I still had five minutes and I was nearly to my house."

"No, it's not." Walker started pacing the room. "Ignorance is no excuse for disobeying the rules. But I'm willing to let it slide … if you'll answer some questions for me." He turned towards Sam, his pupil-less eyes boring straight into her.

Sam gulped. "What questions?"

Walker smiled thinly. "Tell me about the ghost kid."

"What makes you think I know anything about him?" Sam demanded, trying to keep her cool.

"Hmm, let's see. He was spotted in your presence in Amity Park two weeks ago. Since then he has been caught in the vicinity of your home twice, both times interacting with _you_." Walker narrowed his eyes, smiling thinly. "You're the only person of any significance he's been seen with. What's he told you?"

Sam decided to tell a half-truth. "Nothing you don't already know," she retorted. "Can't you get this information out of him? You did capture him last night, right?"

"You're right. I did." Walker's grin stretched wider. "Right in front of your house, incidentally. After he … mm … returned you to your room."

Sam heard her mother gasp.

"You were with him for exactly thirty-three minutes last night, fifteen of which are unaccounted for," Walker continued. "Words were surely exchanged. And I should tell you, Samantha … fraternizing with ghosts that roam free in the face of Pariah's reign is definitely against the rules."

"It's 'Sam'," Samantha found herself saying reflexively. She felt a bit of relief. So Phantom hadn't played the 'Benedict Arnold' card and said he wanted to get close to the humans to help Pariah – which was, she supposed, an entirely possible trick. But she didn't really _believe_ it. "Fine, you want to know what he told me? He said he's against Pariah. That's all I know," she lied.

"Did that make you happy?" Walker asked.

Sam growled at him. "Who cares what I think? I'm only 14," she answered.

Walker smirked, pacing away from Sam. "That's true." He halted, raising a finger as if he'd just thought of something. "But interesting that a ghost of any kind would take interest in a _human._" He turned towards Sam again, overdramatic. "Why would he be interested in you, Samantha?"

That Sam could answer honestly. "I have no idea," she snorted. "But I'm not sorry he's not able to stalk me any more." _Only I am!_ She wailed mentally.

"Heh." Walker smirked. "You're an interesting girl, Samantha. I have one more question for you." He paused. "What have you heard about an uprising against Pariah Dark?"

The question was so point-blank that Sam was caught speechless. Her gaze flickered to her parents, who both looked not only upset, but worried. "I … I really don't know what you're talking about," she said slowly. "I mean, I've heard a couple things about not liking Pariah, but—"

"Who from?" Walker demanded.

"You said only one more question! That's against the rules!" Sam protested.

Walker stared at her. "It is?" Then he hesitated and chuckled. "Very funny, Samantha. Answer the question."

Sam sighed. "I don't know. Different kids at school. I'm really not the social type, I couldn't tell you the names of half the kids in my classes," Sam answered truthfully.

Walker's eyes narrowed to thin green, glowing strips as he stared Sam down, waiting for her to make a slip. Sam tried not to fidget, glaring back.

"Fine." Walker suddenly let up. "I'm letting you off the hook regarding your curfew … for now. But when I find out you're lying—"

"If," Sam corrected.

"_When_ I find out you're lying," Walker continued over her, "I'll come back and deal with you the way you're meant to be dealt with."

He walked out through the door itself, and Sam saw him flying off into the sky, followed by a contingent of goons. Sam let out a heavy, relieved breath.

"Samantha!" "Honey!" Her parents both suddenly ran up and embraced her. "What happened?" "Why didn't you tell us the ghost boy was bothering you again?"

"Human … contact … crushing … anti-social tendencies …" Sam strangled out.

She was safe … for now.

_Tbc_

_Thanks again for reading! Based off the responses, I'll consider starting a companion piece from Danny's POV, but not until we're a little further along. ;_

_Thanks in advance for any and all reviews! You know we authors live for them._


	5. Torn

_And another chapter for your consumption! Thanks to the reviewers of the last chapter: Sqweakie the Wonder Mouse, Mystitat, Nobody Famous, The Adversary, GhostBoy814, Shimegami-chan, weirdIT, and AlisSilly. _

_And now for a plot twist: _

**Torn**

By the time she'd finished answering all her parents' questions (omitting the conversation in the ghost factory, of course, or the awkwardly struck friendship), Sam had made it clear that Phantom was _not_ harming her, she had never _never_ been out past curfew in the past two weeks, and all was well with their precious daughter, although she was still not going to wear pink nor like their ghost friends. She crawled into her pajamas, ordered dinner to her room from Frank (he was the butler, sort of, and a nice enough guy. Nice enough to leave Sam alone and tell her parents he'd been watching her anyway), and flipped on the television. She didn't watch much TV, but there was hardly anything on anyway, and she wanted some background noise while she took a nap. She'd wake up at her best hours – midnight and after – and do some thinking then. Or maybe try to hook up with Tucker and Danny on Doomed and—

Oh, right. Danny was still 'missing'. Or hiding, anyway. Sam growled and flipped open her phone, trying his cell phone. Again, it went to voicemail. "Great," she sighed. "He _is_ avoiding me." Which was actually a rather selfish way to look at things, she supposed, but she had a right to be selfish. Danny was the one telling all the lies.

The TV flickered, catching Sam's attention. She sat up, trying to turn up the volume.

Nothing happened. The screen flickered again, and the television emitted a static-y sound. Sam scowled. "Great, you're not crapping out on me, are you?" she asked the electronic box.

"Crapping out? Is this a new technological term?" asked the television in an odd Russian accent.

Sam startled back from the TV. "Tell me my television didn't just talk to me," she said to no one in particular.

"No, it is not your television that speaks to you!" boomed the television. The screen flickered, going black, and a green screen appeared, fronting a face with sunglasses and bad teeth. "It is I, Technus, master of all things electronic and beeping! And I have claimed your television for my own so that I can hide from Pariah Dark, the Ghost King!"

Sam's mouth dropped open before she snapped it shut again. "You're Nikolai Technus? But Walker had you—"

"I escaped! As have many of my compatriots!" Technus announced. "And soon we will flee the Ghost Zone! Which we recommend, child, that you do also! For the Ghost King shows no mercy!"

"Keep it down," Sam hissed. "You really _do_ shout out all your plans, don't you?"

The face on the television looked uncomfortable. "I had an upgrade that corrected that, but I lost it when Walker captured me."

Sam shushed him again. "Keep talking, Nikolai—"

"Technus!"

"Fine, Technus." Sam rolled her eyes. "You broke out of jail? With other ghosts? What others? Was there a kid with white hair, green eyes—"

"The ghost child? Yes, indeed, it was he that initiated our escape," Technus answered. "Although if I see him, I will crush him for throwing me back into the Ghost Zone in the first place, and letting me be recaptured by Walker!"

Sam grimaced. "Okay, you have a history?"

"Oh, many of us do," Technus answered. "The ghost child has caused us no end of trouble. But we agreed not to wallop him so as to properly execute his escape plan."

"Then he escaped?" Sam asked eagerly, ashamed at how relieved she felt. "Perfect! And he helped all of you escape too! All right, all we have to do now is—"

Sam's phone rang.

Sam blinked. "I recognize that song!" said Technus.

"Shh," Sam whispered, flipping her cell phone open. "Hello?"

"Sam? It's me, Danny," said the voice on the other line.

Sam felt another wave of relief wash over her, followed by a wave of irritation. "Danny, you jerk! Why didn't you call me back yesterday?"

She heard a tired sigh. "I couldn't, Sam. I'm really sorry, but there was just no way to get in touch with you. I, uh, was just calling because Jazz said you were really worried and that Walker came to see you for some reason."

"Oh, Walker came to see me all right," Sam groaned. Her heart clenched again. "And he's probably going to come back now that Phantom's escaped."

"Woah, slow down," Danny laughed weakly. "What happened?"

Sam launched into her story, starting with Phantom shoving her into the street accidentally and finishing with Walker's visit. She watched with slight trepidation as Technus looked around her room with interest, then began to talk to Sam. "Hello? Hello, can I be included in this conversation? I'm right here, you know!"

Sam took a risk and told a white lie as she wrapped up the story, not sure if she wanted to tell Danny that Technus, the master of all things electronic and beeping, was currently overshadowing her TV. "I saw on the television that there was a huge jailbreak at Walker's prison, though, and I'll bet Phantom escaped with everyone else. So Walker's probably going to come back and demand answers from me. _Again._ Although he can't prove anything."

"He doesn't have to prove anything," Danny said slowly. He took a deep breath and let it out. "Things are going to be a zoo around here."

"How so?" Sam asked, glaring at Technus, who was experimenting with making her remote control float around the room.

"Well, besides Walker coming after you – and I'll ask my mom and Jazz about ways around that – if a bunch of ghosts escaped, then there's probably going to be havoc. The ghosts that don't follow Pariah have … er … a lot more personality than the ones that do."

"I noticed," Sam said dryly. "I'm surprised you're not asking me about Phantom," she added.

"Oh, well … er … my sister Jazz had a run-in with him. He didn't seem so bad," Danny stammered. "I wouldn't worry about talking to him. He's definitely not out to bother humans."

_Awfully confident about that, aren't we?_ Sam wondered. "Well, you calling and the jailbreak just took two big weights off my mind," she said, faking cheerfulness. _Yeah, and isn't it odd that they happened within minutes of each other? _"Now all I'm wondering is why you weren't in class today."

She actually heard Danny gulp.

Sam sighed loudly into the phone, not caring if Danny heard her or not. "Don't answer that," she warned. "I know you've got a secret, Danny Fenton. And fine, whatever, it's yours to keep. But just tell me when it's because of the secret instead of lying to me."

There was silence for a long moment, followed by an abashed, "Okay."

Sam pressed her hand to her face. "You still serious about the allying with ghosts thing?" she asked.

The change of subject apparently took Danny off-guard. "I – uh – er, well – yeah. Yeah, of course. 'The enemy of my enemy is my friend,'" he quoted.

"Isn't that Arabic?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, something like that," Danny dismissed. "You were saying?"

"Well, forgetPhantom for now. I've got Technus in my television."

"Master of all things electronic and beeping!" Technus called out.

Danny's speechlessness was oddly satisfying.

"So, Technus," Sam said archly, putting her cell into speakerphone, "Wanna help us humans fight Pariah?"

"Are you nuts?" Technus asked incredulously. "There is nothing you can do in the face of his power!"

"Really? I heard the Ring of Rage and the Crown of Fire are what make him so darn powerful." Sam smirked. "And I heard there's a sarcophagus to lock him away in."

"That's all true," Technus allowed. "But it's not as simple as that! Getting the Ring and Crown off him will be impossible. And there's only one ghost I know of who still knows where the sarcophagus is."

"Really? Who is that?" Sam asked.

"Plasmius," Technus answered.

Sam could hear Danny smack his face into his palm on the speaker.

"What?" she asked irritably.

"Plasmius?" Danny asked awkwardly. "Besides Pariah, he's probably the strongest ghost alive. I mean around. You know what I mean."

"Great, let's recruit him," Sam suggested.

"Oh, if only," Danny answered in a low voice. "He works for Pariah Dark."

Sam frowned slightly. "Wait, he wouldn't happen to be the guy who wears a white cape with black trim …"

"Yep."

"Blue skin and vampire fangs?"

"Yep."

"Shiny black hair shaped like horns?"

"Yep."

"Tucker said we didn't know his name!"

"Well, that's not his real name. It's like the Lunch Lady and the Box Ghost – they're just monikers," Danny said.

"Tucker didn't even know he was called Plasmius," Sam answered.

"It's what we ghosts call him!" Technus suddenly piped up. "For no one has heard his real name!" He lowered his voice slightly. "He is treacherous! He says one thing, but does another!"

"And you'd know all about that, wouldn't you?" Sam asked with a bright, fake smile.

Danny laughed over the phone. Technus looked displeased. "Child, you do not know what you are dealing with! I am—"

"I know who you are, and you're _hiding._ So stop shouting everything," Sam hissed. She took the phone off speaker mode. "Danny, I don't know how long I can handle having Technus in my TV. If we can't get to this Plasmius guy, what do we do?"

"I don't know yet," Danny answered, suddenly serious again. "Er … let Technus hide there until we can get him other accommodations, though, okay? I think … I think telling the grownups about allying with ghosts might be a bad idea until we've gotten some valuable information from them."

"Just promise me you'll have a solution by tomorrow night," Sam begged.

"I'll have something, all right," Danny yawned. "I'm gonna hit the sack. See you tomorrow."

"Danny--" Sam started, but the boy had already hung up. She made an exasperated sound and tossed her phone on the nightstand. "Honestly …"

"Ooh, that looks like a nice piece of equipment! And it can transmit too, rather than just receive," Technus cooed.

"Don't even think about it," Sam retorted, falling back on her bed.

&

Sam had to threaten to use her ring to kick Technus out of the television three times before the ghost finally stopped talking to himself and let Sam lay down and try to sleep. She thought sleep would come easily after last night, but she was wrong; questions arose the more she thought.

_Why do I get the feeling there's a connection between Danny and Phantom? It's not just the physical similarities … Danny never seems surprised by anything I say about the ghost boy, and he mysteriously calls me the moment Phantom is out of danger? Wouldn't a kid who grew up fighting ghosts be a little suspicious of a ghost? Is it his long-lost twin or something? Nah, that's ridiculous … maybe Danny's been working with Phantom. Maybe … wait … _

"Oh my gosh," Sam gasped, sitting up sharply in her bed.

"How did Danny know who 'Phantom' is?"

&

Sam mulled this over and over, but no matter what, she couldn't figure out how Danny knew the ghost kid's recently received name. Phantom had been with her the whole time afterwards, until the moment he was taken away by Walker – and even when he escaped, it wasn't like a ghost was going to flee right into the arms of ghost hunters. _Maybe Phantom is some kind of projection of Danny or something. A ghost that's not really a ghost. Something … argh … somehow they're connected! _

_Maybe they're the same person. Maybe Danny's really dead, and he just looks like a human during the day to fool us. _

_Oh, I am so going to bust him. _

She was just drifting off into dark dreams when ambient light entered her otherwise dark room. Sam cracked an eye open, trying to see who it was without giving away that she was awake.

It was Phantom, giving off his own natural eerie glow. Or Danny. Or whoever he was. And he was carrying a … thermos?

"All right, Technus. We can do this the easy way, or the hard way," the ghost boy whispered. "And I'd really prefer the easy way so Sam doesn't wake up."

"Do not think you will trap me in your Thermos again, ghost child!" declared Technus, suddenly lighting up the TV screen again. "I am bigger and stronger, and—"

"You downgraded two years ago," Phantom snorted. "I promise I'll give you a nice big pile of my parents' junk to play in, okay?" He uncapped the thermos.

A jet of light shot out of it, engulfing Sam's TV and pulling out a white-haired, green-skinned ghost wearing sunglasses. "Why do I have to go in thaaa--!" the ghost's voice was cut off as Phantom recapped the thermos-that-was-really-a-ghost-trap.

_Wow. Between the crack about his parents' junk and the thermos itself, there's no way Phantom isn't _some_ aspect of Danny. Or directly related to him. Who knows? _

"To make sure you don't do anything funny," Phantom smiled, slipping the thermos into a sling over his shoulder and wincing slightly. "Okay. Next stop, Spec—"

"Oh, you're not going anywhere," Sam interrupted, pushing back her covers. "Danny Fenton!"

The ghost's eyes widened, and Sam could have sworn he got even paler.

_Gotcha_, she thought.

"Sam!" the ghost stammered. "Not so loud!"

Well, that wasn't quite the reaction she was expecting. Sam blinked, and Phantom – Danny – slipped across the room, looking this way and that nervously. "I-I-I can explain, I swear, b-but can it wait until later?"

Sam stared at him. "I was right?"

Phantom's head jerked up and he glared at her. "You were _guessing?_"

"Why have you been lying to me all this time?" she whispered angrily

"Well, you didn't exactly give the ghost me a warm reception!" Danny retorted irritably. "I was going to tell you tomorrow … well … soon, anyway," he rubbed the back of his neck before suddenly sitting up ramrod straight. Sam had seen that before, in the lunchroom at school. "Seriously, this is a really bad time. I just came over here to take care of Technus for you, and the last thing _you _need is to be seen with _me_, so, I'm going." He floated up off the bed.

"Wait!" Sam hissed, grabbing his hand. "Just tell me: are you a ghost, or human?"

The ghost winced out of all proportion for the grip she'd taken on his wrist, and he jerked his hand away, his arm slipping through her fingers, literally. "Ow! Both," he answered, rubbing his wrist. "Gottarunbye!" He dropped through the floor of her room.

"The worst part is, his excuse is actually legitimate," Sam groaned to herself, her gaze darting to the window as she saw Walker fly by, clearly sweeping for the ghost – boy – Phantom.

She was so not going to get any sleep tonight.

&

Sam was more right than she thought. Half an hour later, her cell phone rang. Sam groaned, slapping a hand over her eyes, and answered it. "Hello?"

"It's Danny."

Sam groaned again. "You know, I don't know that I'm alive enough at the moment to have this conversation with you."

"Oh. Er, yeah, I guess I should have thought of that," Danny answered sheepishly. "W-well, Jazz told me you were really spazzing about me earlier today, and … uh …" there was a pause. "I'm … uh … not going to be in school tomorrow."

"Again?" Sam groaned. "Wait, you don't have to attend school, do you. You're dead."

"Not dead! Just … a little ghostly." Sam could imagine Danny's panicked look.

"How's that? You're a ghost and a human at the same time?"

"Sort of?" Danny sounded uncertain. "I'm, uh … half-ghost. Only really it's more like I'm fully human and have ghost power side benefits. Or something like that."

Sam made a face. She'd barely processed that explanation at all. "And why won't you be in school tomorrow?" she asked slowly.

"Honestly?" Danny hesitated. "Don't hit me for this, I mean, if you're not going to hit me already for lying to you about myself for the past two weeks, but it was kind of a secret and I don't know you _that _well. But anyway, er, I was totally going to follow you around in school in ghost mode so I could blast Walker if he came anywhere near you?"

"Uh …"

"Or you could pretend I didn't say anything," Danny suggested. "That would be fine too."

"Danny, I think I'm coming down with the flu," Sam answered. "And you'd better be here to take care of me."

"You're coming down with the flu?"

"Oh, honestly. No, I'm just telling my parents that so I can skip school. So come over here tomorrow and explain yourself then, okay?"

Danny sighed into the phone. "Okay."

"That's a good boy." Sam yawned. "Now I'm going to attempt a couple of hours of sleep."

"I'll let you," Danny answered. Sam could hear his wince. "Night, Sam."

"Night, Phantom."

&

Sam had mastered the art of acting sick. First a little red blush right under the eyes, running cold water over her hands to make them clammy, and a good, miserable moan. She could perfectly fake sneezes as well. However, her efforts were apparently wasted: she was just about to go proclaim her illness when her mother threw open her door.

"Sammykins, you absolutely cannot go to school today!" she declared.

Sam blinked. "Why not?"

"There was a massive jailbreak last night from Walker's prison. Rogue ghosts are everywhere! I'll not have my precious daughter running around in that mess," she warned.

"Uh, okay," Sam said slowly. "Can Danny come over?"

"That Fenton boy? Oh, I don't know what you see in him. He seems rather odd. Flaky, you know." Her mother sighed. "Now, Dash Baxter …"

"Mother!" Sam groaned. "No, he's an idiot! Just answer my question, please," she begged.

Sam's mother rolled her eyes. "I suppose he can come over," she agreed. "But if he gets attacked by a ghost on his way, don't say I didn't warn you!" She shut the door behind her.

_Oh, if only you knew._ There was an odd appeal to thinking that Danny was the ghost kid, if only because he'd shamelessly flaunted the law in front of Walker and her parents despised his ghost half. Anything her parents despised was a good thing in Sam's opinion. But of course, Danny was the reason she was in trouble with Walker. Danny had been spying on her as a ghost, and he had lied to her … well … with reason, she allowed. _If he'd told me off the bat that he was … well, whatever he is, I probably would have screamed foul, _she realized._ I still don't like ghosts that much, but it's not like I knew Danny well enough to demand he trust me with something so … bizarre. I guess I'm being pretty unfair. _

_But he made me worry twice over by getting caught by Walker, the idiot! Argh. Now I don't know what I want to do to him. _

She showered, touched up the dye job on her hair that kept it jet black (she naturally had dark brown hair, but it was a well-kept secret), and changed.

She was just considering calling Frank on the intercom to bring up some coffee (she spent as little time in the house outside of her room as possible) when Danny opened the door to her room. "Uh. Hi," he said anxiously. "I told your parents I was supposed to come over to take care of you while you had the flu, and they looked at me like I was crazy. Did I say something wrong?"

Sam smirked. "Nah, they just decided to hold me back from school on their own, so I ditched the lie," she explained. "Seems they don't want me being attacked by all the 'rogue ghosts' the ghost boy let out." She crossed her arms, watching Danny fidget nervously.

It was the first time Sam had seen Danny in two days, and he looked not only nervous but also wiped out. He usually wore short sleeves, but today he had on a red, long-sleeved shirt under his t-shirt. "I'm really sorry about lying to you," he said in a rush. "It's … er … I've been keeping this a secret for as long as I can remember, from everyone – even my parents, for a long time." He swallowed hard. "Since, you know, ghosts aren't exactly liked, and being … well … it's … I just didn't want to tell you until I thought you'd be okay with it. But I did want to tell you," he added quickly.

Sam let Danny spill out this guilt-ridden apology in silence. He'd probably been torturing himself with it all night, she realized, with the way he was: high-strung and sensitive. _I suppose we're even now. _"Apology accepted," she said, forcing a thin smile. "And I'm sorry, too. I keep telling you not to lie to me, then get all upset because I find out you have a secret? That's pretty hypocritical."

Danny just looked at her as if she was losing it. "Uh … if you say so." He rubbed the back of his neck.

Sam patted the bed, sitting on the edge of it. "Sit down," she said, "and talk to me."

Danny sat.

_Tbc _

_So, did you see that coming so soon? Huh? Didja, didja? g I didn't want to insult Sam's intelligence for too long, so I knew this had to come in the next couple of chapters, although I hadn't decided whether or not Sam would reveal to Danny that she knew until, er, she got so furious with him that I knew she would. Anyway. A few explanations are coming up in the next chapter, but then we get to more juicy plot stuff again. Mmm. _

_Please review! I love reviews. No, seriously. Thanks again for all the input!_


	6. Confessions

_Thank you once again to all those who reviewed the last chapter: Shimegami-chan (wow, I've been reading your work for years), Catadmin (your thoughtful responses are appreciated), JDPhoenix, look for the girl with the broken smile, GlowingGreenEyes, The Adversary (despite what you think you sound very intelligent), emotigone crazy (your enthusiasm is catching), Mystitat (You make me think), Nobody Famous (luff, infiite luff), GhostBoy814, Karen Kano, wierdIT, and Funkatron._

_And now, the big reveal._

**Confessions**

"Now, start from the beginning," Sam suggested. "If you're not just a ghost and not just a human, what are you?"

Danny sighed, his gaze darting away. "Well … I'm a hybrid. Spectra called me a 'halfa' once, so I guess that's the ghost term for it."

"Okay … that doesn't explain anything," Sam complained.

"I know," Danny said wryly. "It's hard to explain. I guess I should just show you." He closed his eyes, and a ring of light jetted out from his waist, separating and traveling up and down his body. When the rings dissipated, Sam was sitting next to Phantom.

"Woah," Sam whispered. "That's kind of cool. Really weird, but kind of cool."

"If you say so," Phantom answered, rolling his eyes.

"So are you a different person? Like a split personality?" Sam asked.

"No. At least, I don't think so," Phantom answered awkwardly. "Jazz is always psychoanalyzing me, though, watching for disassociate disorders or multiple personalities or something." The rings reappeared at his waist, and he turned back into Danny. "She's really into psychology."

"So what was all that about not remembering your name, 'Phantom'?" Sam asked, arching an eyebrow.

Danny grimaced. "What was I going to do, blurt 'Danny Fenton' at you? Geez. I never really thought about a name for when I look like a ghost. It's still _me_.

"Anyway, er … Jazz thinks I just turn part of my body into energy when I become ghostly. But most of the time I still have most of my powers—"

"And those are?" Sam asked.

Danny made a face at her. "You've seen them! Flying, turning intangible, turning invisible …" he ticked them off on his fingers. "I've been trying to split myself when I'm not in my ghost form, but it doesn't work. But I can still shoot ecto-blasts –"

"Ecto-blasts?"

"You know, those green bolts Walker can shoot from his hands. I can do that too." Danny scratched his head. "Uh, there's other stuff … oh yeah, making shields out of ectoplasm, but I can barely get that to work in my ghost form, never mind my human one."

Sam listened to him talk about all this casually, feeling flabbergasted. Danny had that much power at his fingertips, all the time? He wasn't boasting about it; he sounded like he was discussing the weather. "How long have you been like this?" Sam asked. "Were you born like this?"

Danny shrugged slightly. "Adopted, remember? I don't know … it's possible, I guess. I could already go through stuff when I was eight, and I was the best hider playing hide and seek." He got a fond smile on his face at the memory. "But I couldn't, er, turn into a ghost. That started after the accident."

"The accident?"

"Uh, remember how my parents said they finally managed to make a 'stable' Ghost Portal? They weren't stable before that. They kind of, uh, self-destructed." Danny gulped. "I got caught in one when I was ten. So did my sister, actually, but she was in the hospital for six days with ectoplasm poisoning. I just … got white hair and green eyes."

Sam wasn't used this sort of heart-to-heart talk. What did you say to something like that? "What happened after that?" she asked softly, trying to be gentle.

"Well, it wasn't exactly like I could hide it from my parents," Danny admitted. "I … I hadn't told them about being able to walk through walls and stuff before. I mean, that's a ghost thing, and my parents hated ghosts! Mom was always talking about dissecting them. But when the accident happened, there was definitely no hiding it, especially since Jazz was so sick and I wasn't sick at all." He laughed half-heartedly. "They hugged me and told me they loved me anyway, then did tests for months."

"That seems kind of cruel," Sam said, frowning.

"What, the testing? No, it was fine. Kind of fun, actually. Dad invented all these weird video games for me to 'play' with that made me use my new powers. I, uh, got really good with them, really fast."

"With the games?" Sam asked, perplexed.

"No, my powers," Danny corrected. "It was like before, but a hundred times more … I mean, I could _fly._ Sam, you have no idea how cool that is." He grinned.

"I think I have an idea," Sam answered dryly. "You did fly me all over town the other day, you know." _He's always been like this? Or at least for as long as he can remember … that's a little spooky, I'll admit._ "So you guys came to Amity four years later because …?"

"Well, to fight Pariah Dark." Danny propped his chin on his hand, and his elbow on his knee. "My parents finally built a stable Ghost Portal so they could get into the Ghost Zone, like I told you before … and we came here. They're trying to built a reverse Portal now, in the basement – one that'll let people out of the Ghost Zone and back into the real world. If it works, everyone will be able to escape Amity after my parents get the Ghost Shield over the whole town and kick out Walker's forces."

"But why did _you_ come?" Sam asked. "You said to me that one night that this town was _yours._ Were you just trying to sound like a ghost or something?"

Danny looked uncomfortable. "Uh … yeah … what you said."

Sam rolled her eyes. "Danny, you're a terrible liar," she accused with a smirk.

Danny dropped his face into his hand. "Yeah … I know." He took a deep breath and let it out. "Jazz is having a fit about it already, but my parents don't know. And if you breathe a _word_ about what I say next in front of them, I'll …"

"Danny, I've hardly seen your parents," Sam pointed out. "I'm not going to go divulging your life secrets to them."

Danny gave her a suspicious look. "You're going to ditch me."

Sam gave an exasperated sigh. "No, I'm not."

"Yes you are! You already think it's weird I've been like this all my life!"

Sam drew back slightly. "How did you know that?"

Danny groaned aloud. "I was right?"

"You were _guessing?"_

They had an awkward standoff, Danny eying Sam from the corner of his eye and Sam glaring back. Danny broke the silence, squeezing his eyes shut and throwing up his hands. "Just promise me that even if you ditch me, you'll keep this a secret."

"Who would I tell?" Sam asked. Danny glared at her, and she put up her hands in surrender. "Okay, okay, I swear I won't say a word."

Danny narrowed his eyes at her for a moment longer, then got up from the bed, pacing several steps forward. "I … I was born here in Amity. In a hospital. And I grew up here until I was four years old." He turned to look at Sam. "And when I turned into a ghost for the first time … I felt like I had to come here." He took a deep breath and let it out. "And when I flew over it for the first time, I felt like it belonged to me. Like it's always belonged to me." He scowled, and Sam could have sworn his eyes glittered green. "I don't like other ghosts being in Amity. And I'll do what it takes to kick them back out!"

Sam couldn't help but notice how Danny said "_other_ ghosts", as if he was counting himself among their number. She swallowed, leaning back. "Okay, Danny? You were right, that's a little weird."

Danny seemed to come back to himself when she spoke, and he recoiled slightly, visibly deflating. "I know. That's why I haven't told my parents." He pressed his hands to his face. "My sister is right! It's ghostly obsession. I'm not supposed to have that! I'm not actually a ghost! I'm just … partially one."

_That's a little bit of a split personality, there, _Sam thought. _He doesn't want 'other' ghosts in Amity, but he's not a ghost? _"Look, that's spooky, but it's no more spooky than you having ghost powers," Sam lied. "I'm not going to ditch you over that."

Danny had no right to look so relieved to hear that. _If he ever tried the lost puppy dog look, he'd be irresistible, _Sam grumbled mentally. "And okay, I can understand wanting to keep this whole thing a big secret; not everyone is going to accept this. But having ghost powers on our side could be a huge asset. That's the whole point to getting the ghosts to ally with us, right?"

"They _are_ a huge asset," Danny answered slowly, edging back towards the bed. "And yeah, I think working with the ghosts is a good idea. Although you do know that means we have to promise them some of the stuff they want … so we don't want to work with all of them." He grimaced. "Some, like Spectra, just feed on humans like parasites – we don't exactly want her on our side."

"Was she captured by Walker? Did she get free?" Sam asked. She paused. "Wait. You went to ghost jail! How did _you_ get free?"

Danny sat heavily next to Sam, making the bed bounce a bit. "It's kind of a long story," he confessed. "Long story short, I got most of the ghosts to agree to attempt a breakout at the same time as me. Enemy of my enemy stuff. I'd rather have most of the ghosts out of ghost jail anyway, and it's a start to getting them to work with us. Me," he corrected. "They'll listen to me now. At least, they'll sort of listen to me."

"Not us?" Sam asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Er, they don't know I'm half human. Except for Spectra, she, uh, kind of sucked it out of me."

"She's the ghost that gets her power from feeding on misery, right?" Sam asked, trying to remember what she'd seen on Tucker's computer.

Danny nodded. "We had a run-in years ago. It … wasn't cool." He didn't look like he wanted to talk about it.

"So you've fought these ghosts before." Sam remembered what Technus had said about the 'ghost boy' who caused 'no end of trouble'.

"Most of them, yeah."

"Where?" Sam asked. "I mean, you just came to Amity. Again, I guess."

"In Wisconsin." Danny rubbed the back of his head. "Mom and Dad have this theory that even the unstable ghost portals leave behind these weak spots in our dimension or something, like a rip or a slit things like ghosts can get through." He brought his palms within an inch of each other in demonstration. "There was this destroyed portal in a castle in Wisconsin, and people said it was haunted, so my parents went there to go check it out. I met a lot of ghosts there … Lunch Lady, the Box Ghost, Skulker … Spectra … Technus a couple of times. Mom made a Fenton Bazooka – it's really cool! It sucks ghosts straight into the Ghost Zone. So when Mom couldn't use that, I used the Fenton Thermos – uh, the thing I had last night – to suck the ghosts up until Mom could shoot them with the Bazooka and send them back."

"Uh … when was this, exactly?" Sam asked.

"We were in Wisconsin until two weeks ago," Danny answered. He offered a thin smile. "My parents used the weak spot to build a stable Ghost Portal, right inside the castle. That's how we got in."

"When did you _go_ to Wisconsin, I mean?"

"Uh, about four years ago. Why?"

Sam made a face. "The ghosts you fought were all jailed around the same time Amity got sucked into the Ghost Zone," she explained. "But they all had jailbreaks in the last four years … and all of them got put back in jail almost immediately afterwards. I just think it's weird. You said you had the accident about four years ago, right?"

Danny nodded. "Two weeks before we moved," he said slowly. "… okay, yeah, uh. Weird coincidence."

"Danny, if you've taught me anything, it's that nothing is a coincidence," Sam sighed. "What do you wanna bet someone sent those ghosts to you?"

"But _we_ went to _them_," Danny protested.

"Your parents are ghost hunters! How could they resist the news of a weak point that could possibly get them into the Ghost Zone and to Pariah Dark? If they didn't find that weak spot, would they ever have managed to build a working Portal?" Sam asked.

Danny looked thoughtful. "I don't know. I never really thought about it," he admitted.

"Someone sent those ghosts, knowing your parents would go to them, and bring you along," Sam said firmly. Then she paused. "Wow, that really sounds paranoid, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, a bit," Danny answered. "No one knew about my being half-ghost, so why would they send ghosts as soon as I got my, er … power boost?"

Sam sighed. "I don't know. The pieces don't add up, though. The coincidence is just too weird," Sam pointed out.

"I'll agree with you there," Danny said. He hesitated. "You're really smart."

"You think so?" Sam couldn't help a slight blush. "Thanks."

Danny smiled, blushing slightly as well.

"Sammykins? Daniel? Are you hungry, honey?" called Sam's mother.

Sam sighed heavily. "Want some … brunch, Danny?" she asked, checking her watch and finding it was nearly eleven.

"Sure!" Danny sounded surprisingly enthused about food. "That'd be great. Thanks."

Sam gave him a knowing look. "You didn't eat breakfast, did you."

Danny wouldn't meet her eyes. "I kind of had really bad butterflies."

"Right." Sam refrained from laughing by sheer willpower. "I'll get our food sent up."

"You can do that?"

"Always," Sam smirked. She pressed her intercom. "Frank? Ask Mother to send lunch right up. Tell her Danny's eating too."

"You could just tell her yourself, you know," Frank answered. "But as I know how you feel about speaking to your mother unnecessarily, I'll do it."

"Thanks, Frank, you're the best," Sam said, laying the smarm on thick.

"Miss Manson, I live for your praise," Frank said dryly. Sam snickered.

"You have a butler?" Danny's eyes were wide.

"Yeah, kind of," Sam grinned. "He's cool."

"Weird! Cool, though," Danny concurred. He clasped his hands together, resting his elbows on his knees.

Sam saw the bandages peeking out from under his shirt. "What happened to your arm?" she asked.

"Oh." Danny looked down. "Uh …" With a resigned sigh, he pushed his sleeve up to reveal the bandaging underneath, laced heavily over his wrist. "Nothing important. It'll heal up by tomorrow."

"Did you slit your wrist?" Sam asked. _Although if the answer is yes, I'm seriously going to kill him._

"No! No, of course not!" Danny looked offended by the idea. "It's just some burns! See?" He jerked up his pants leg to show more bandages around his ankles. "Would I slit my ankles, too?"

"Only if you never wanted to walk again," Sam snorted. "How did you get burned?"

Danny glared at her.

"Okay, you don't have to tell me." Sam rolled her eyes. "Geez. Just curious."

"Well, some things you don't wanna know," Danny answered flatly, tugging his sleeve back up his wrist.

Sam sobered immediately, looking at Danny and feeling like she was really seeing him for the first time. He was _tired, _his shoulders slumped and dark rings under his eyes He'd led a jailbreak with a bunch of his sometime-enemies, gotten hurt doing it, and he spent his nights getting chased around by idiot Walker goons. _Some life_, Sam found herself thinking. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "So, now that I'm in on this big secret of yours … how can I help?"

Danny looked up at her in surprise. "Er, you don't have to do anything," he said, waving his hands in front of him.

"No one can make me do anything," Sam answered. "I'm asking because I want to help."

Danny licked his lips. "Well … for starters, just keep this a secret." He hesitated. "But as far as help goes … you said Plasmius shows up at those parties you have to go to."

"Yeah … and by the way, what was that, overshadowing me?"

"For the fourth time, I'm sorry!" Danny cried.

"Okay, okay, I'll let it die," Sam sighed. "Anyway, Plasmius?"

"Skulker's free again. He's a bounty hunter, and, uh, he'll do anything for a price," Danny said slowly. "Or for recreation. Like try to hang my pelt on the end of his bed."

"_That's_ gross." Sam made a face.

"Just a little," Danny grumbled. "Anyway, Skulker's worked for Plasmius in the past, or so he told me. _Apparently_ he's a little peeved his former employer left him to rot in jail. So … just … I dunno. Keep an eye out for information on Plasmius. I'm going looking for Skulker later – if he doesn't find me first."

"Have you ever met Plasmius before?" Sam wondered.

Danny wouldn't meet her eyes. "Once. He pretty much decimated me," Danny admitted. "For a while I was afraid he'd found out I wasn't really just … you know … a ghost. But I guess if he knew I'd already be _really_ dead. Or jailed someplace I couldn't get out of, or something. I know I would have been jumped by Walker as Danny Fenton, at lea—" he broke off, his gaze shooting to the window. "Oh no …"

Sam halfway stood up off her bed. "What is it?"

Danny was already going to the window, pressing his face against the panes. "Walker." And indeed, the ghost was flying right for her room.

"Darn it!" Sam made her hands into fists. "That stupid--!"

"He's not stupid, that's the problem," Danny complained fiercely. "He's coming for you. And he knows it'll—" His gaze went to Sam. "—uh, get you in a lot of trouble!"

"He's coming right here," Sam gasped. "Danny—"

But Danny was gone.

Sam looked around her room in automatic confusion before her wall said, "I'm right here. Don't worry, Sam."

Sam made an exasperated sound – and then Walker was flying into her room, knocking over her desk in his haste to turn tangible again. "All right, Samantha," he said, looming over her, "I think you know why I'm here."

Sam startled back instinctively. Was he bigger than he'd been last time? "Walker! What a … pleasant … surprise," she said, her mouth twitching.

"I've been lenient with you until now, but I know you know something about the ghost kid that you're not telling us," Walker snarled. "Where is he? Tell me now!"

"Right next to you!"

Sam took a step back as an ectoplasmic blast originating out of thin air slammed into Walker's side, sending the rule-happy ghost smashing into the drywall. Danny reappeared, now in his ghost form, blowing imaginary smoke off his finger. "That was for yesterday!"

"D—Phantom—" Sam started.

"Grab my hand!" Danny ordered. Sam obeyed without thinking. Walker started to extract himself from the wall, and Danny thrust his hand out, throwing another blast of energy at Walker and smashing him deeper into the wall. Then he tightened his grip on Sam's hand and flew out the window, yanking Sam after him.

Sam was startled to find herself as light as a feather, floating alongside Danny as if she could fly herself, his hand firmly enveloping hers. "Wha …?"

"Cool, it totally worked!" Danny grinned, pulling Sam after him. "I can make you fly too!"

"Is this really the time to experiment?" Sam demanded, looking behind them. Walker was hot on their heels, and so were his goons. "Phantom!"

"Don't worry," Danny instructed again, suddenly changing direction and jerking Sam along.

"No one flaunts _my _rules!" Walker roared. He shot blasts of ecto-energy at Danny and Sam; Danny veered out of the way expertly, pulling Sam closer to himself.

"Hold on tight," he instructed, pulling Sam under himself and wrapping his arms around her. "Don't let go--!"

He shot forward like a bullet, making their speed before seem lazy. Sam gasped, her breath stolen from her, the world blurring around her – and suddenly, they were in an abandoned building, kicking up dust as Danny settled them on the floor.

Sam coughed. "Wha—what happened--?"

"I did a short-range teleport," Danny answered, stepping away from Sam and looking up through the broken windows at the sky. "Walker won't be fooled by that for long. So … just to be safe …" he grit his teeth, squeezing his eyes shut, and two more Phantoms appeared on either side of him. "I'll just have to split up. Er, no pun intended," all three Phantoms said together. Then the two copies both went intangible, one shooting out the side of the room and the other dropping through the floor.

Danny sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly, starting to pant. "And now, we wait for five minutes before I take you to my place."

Sam stared at him. "Did you … have this planned?" she asked slowly.

Danny colored slightly. "I talked to my Mom about how to get you away from Walker for a while," he admitted. "At least until he's too busy capturing rogue ghosts to deal with you. After all, it is my fault he's stalking you," he admitted.

"That's … oddly sweet of you," Sam said awkwardly. "In a totally weird way, of course."

Danny snorted, a smile flickering on his face as he took her hand. "Come on," he suggested. "We should get over to my place before Walker … oh, geez, please no …"

"Ghost child!"

The ghost that suddenly materialized in front of Danny and Sam was hugely muscled with small legs, with green eyes and flaming green hair. He had enough weapons equipped on him to destroy a small army. "You're Skulker," Sam exclaimed.

"Correct, human child." The ghost focused on Sam for all of a moment before turning back to Danny. "And while I am thankful for the aid last night, I have decided that I cannot leave Amity and return to my lair until I have hung your pelt at the foot of my bed, ghost child!"

"For the record?" Danny said in a low, hurt voice, "I hate my life. I really, really do."

"I hate it more," Sam sighed.

_Tbc_

_Thank you for reading, and please leave a review so I know what you think! Feedback makes me all warm and fuzzy inside._


	7. Somewhere Between

_I really appreciate all the reviews and encouragement. Thanks to those who reviewed Chapter 6: moonymonster, Zilleniose, Poison's Ivy, CharmedNightSkye, Ghostboy814, JDPhoenix, look for the girl with the broken smile, Spirit, Mystitat, Nobody Famous, jessicajason, Funkatron, Shimegami-chan, Sasia, and emotigone crazy. Hope you enjoy this next chapter just as much!_

_And now, a bit more:_

**Somewhere Between**

"Enough talking, whelp!" Skulker raised his arm, and an ecto-gun popped up out of his forearm.

"Gah!" In an instant Danny was floating in front of Sam; he flung his arms wide, a green shield forming between himself and Skulker. The ecto-rays bounced harmlessly off of it. "Skulker, listen to me! Walker is hot on my tail, and if he encounters you, he'll settle for you, too!"

"I can handle him."

"Like you handled him last time?" Danny cried, exasperated. "Look, most of the ghosts look up to you. If we worked together, we could – yikes!" Danny ducked a net, grabbing Sam and hauling her away across the room. Sam yelped, her arm feeling like it was being yanked out of its socket.

"Dan—Phantom, stop--!"

Danny let go of her arm, but he wasn't listening to her; his attention was entirely on the hunter ghost. He flew back, releasing ectoblasts furiously from his fists. "How stupid are you? You're going to attract Walker! Ugh!"

Skulker had grabbed Phantom by the neck and was holding him off his feet. The ghost boy kicked uselessly. "I have no need to work with you to avoid Walker," Skulker informed him crisply. "And I have no interest in fighting him!"

"Just—guh—just listen," Danny panted, for some reason not escaping Skulker's grasp by going intangible. Sam watched, her breath stuck in her throat. "It's not just about Walker. It's Pariah," he strangled out. "He's got a sarcophagus, right? The one the Ancients locked him up in."

Skulker narrowed his eyes. "I'm listening."

"If the ghosts worked together to fight Pariah, we could lock him back up in that sarcophagus. Then you'd be free of him, right? You could go-nngh-go home."

Skulker dropped Phantom to the ground, stepping on his chest. Danny let out a pained sound. "Your proposal is preposterous. The Skeleton Key would be required to lock the sarcophagus, and Pariah himself is invincible as long as he is wearing the Ring of Rage and the Crown of Fire."

"Then we get those away from him! It can't be impossible," Danny wheezed.

"Phantom's right," Sam said suddenly, surprising herself almost as much as she apparently surprised Danny and Skulker; both looked at her with wide eyes. "The humans will help, too. We've got some really good, uh, ghost hunters on our side."

There was a moment of silence. Danny broke it. "Look, what do you have to lose? Your life?"

Skulker glared down at his prey, pressing harder with his boot for a moment. "My freedom, for one," he snapped. "However, as long as the Ghost Zone is ruled by Pariah, my activities are extremely limited. And as long as my former _employer_ is around, proper hunting is almost impossible."

"Is that a yes?" Phantom coughed.

"It's only a consideration," Skulker answered flatly.

Sam bit her lip. However, just then Danny drew in a heavy breath and let it out sharply, a green tinge coming to his ghostly face. "Can't maintain the clones," he said shakily. His fingers twitched, and his eyes went to the window. "Walker!"

Sam looked up, as did Skulker, and indeed, there was Walker, floating into the room. "Well, well, if it isn't a couple of my inmates enjoying an afternoon chat," he smirked.

"Look what you did! You let him find us!" Danny snarled, suddenly slipping out from under Skulker's foot now that the ghost wasn't paying attention.

"It was your fault, whelp! Your ecto-blasts attracted the attention!"

"Guys! Is now really the time to fight over this?" Sam demanded.

"I refuse to be jailed!" Skulker announced.

"Same here," Danny scowled.

"You have no choice. You've both violated the – augh!"

Walker shot out of the side of the building, pummeled simultaneously by an ecto-blast from Phantom and a ghost ray from Skulker.

"I'll distract him," Danny said. "I've been doing enough of that for the last few days. And you—" He grabbed Sam's arm again, thrusting her towards Skulker. "Do me a favor and drop her near FentonWorks!"

Skulker snarled. "Why should I do you any favors, ghost child?"

"Why do I have to go with him?" Sam wailed.

"Because I'm saving your butt by distracting Walker, and because you don't want to go to jail!" Danny answered them, shooting out the window. "Hah! Not so tough without your goons, huh, Walker?" Sam heard outside the window, followed by a cry of outrage from Walker himself.

Sam looked at Skulker, and Skulker looked at Sam.

"Uh … I don't even know what FentonWorks is," Sam said.

Skulker sighed aloud. "Unfortunately, I do," he said. "Grab my arm."

"You're actually going to do what he says?" Sam said skeptically. "Why should I trust you?"

"Because unfortunately, the whelp is right. And while you would certainly make excellent bait, I have bigger fish to fry – and I won't have time to deal with a needy human child." He grasped her forearm since Sam had made no move towards him, and with that, she found herself flying unwillingly in the arms of the Ghost Zone's Greatest Hunter.

"I'm amazed to find a human willingly in the company of a ghost," Skulker commented suddenly as they floated slowly from building to building.

Sam was caught off-guard by the remark. "Well, uh, he's gotten me in a lot of trouble, so he owes me," she said, thinking fast.

"Hm. Trouble follows the ghost child everywhere, it is true," Skulker said. "You should keep that in mind. Also, his proposal to depose Pariah Dark is pathetic and doomed to failure."

"Why do you think so?" Sam wanted to know. Skulker had been around for a while; maybe he knew something Danny didn't.

"There are too many obstacles in his way," Skulker growled. "First he needs the Skeleton Key. Secondly, he will require the sarcophagus itself – which only I and Plasmius know the location of."

Sam's eyes widened. "You know where the sarcophagus is?"

Skulker glared down at her. "Of course I know where it is! Plasmius had me in his employ until he turned traitor. He hid the sarcophagus well."

"Plasmius hid the sarcophagus?" Sam gaped.

"It is no easy task to get to," Skulker warned. "It is in the Fright Knight's former lair."

"Oh, really …" Sam said slowly.

"However, having the sarcophagus is only half the battle. And beyond that, to fight Pariah himself, one must go through Wulf, the Fright Knight, and Plasmius. All will protect him with their afterlives. They are sworn to it," Skulker growled. "But enough. You are in the company of the ghost child. Tell him that Skulker will consider his proposal – if he presents the Skeleton Key and the Sarcophagus to me."

They came to rest between two buildings on a street Sam vaguely recognized.

"I've honored my part of the deal. So long, child." Skulker dropped through the ground.

Sam blinked, and hesitantly made her way out of the alleyway.

She found herself facing the Fenton's home.

"FentonWorks," Sam muttered to herself. "Clever." She went up to the door and rang the doorbell.

It was only a moment before someone made an appearance at the door.

"Samantha!"

"Oh, please don't call me that, Mrs. Fenton," Sam answered awkwardly. "It's Sam."

"All right then, Sam," Maddie Fenton answered, entirely too cheery for Sam's taste. But her expression sobered immediately. "Quickly, inside. You're here because Walker decided to take you in for questioning, right?" She ushered the teenager in the door. "Where's Danny?"

"I think he's getting chased around by Walker again," Sam answered, not sure if she should tell Mrs. Fenton that she'd been dropped off by Skulker (of all ghosts). "I … I guess you know he's a ghost?"

"Oh, no, he's not one," Maddie answered, smiling. "He's a normal young boy who has been highly infected with ectoplasmic energy by electrocution! It's entirely different. Would you like some cookies? They're fresh."

This was Sam's first time inside the Fenton's home, and she looked around in amazement. It seemed normal enough; the foyer led into the stairs and a sitting room, with the kitchen visible just beyond it. "Uh … I guess so," she said slowly, letting herself be led into the perfectly normal kitchen with perfectly normal cookies sitting on the table. Mrs. Fenton handed her one, and Sam fiddled with it.

"Sit down, honey. Relax. You've probably had a trying day," Maddie said gently, pulling out a chair.

Sam sat in it heavily without thinking, and Maddie sat opposite her. "More like a really strange day," Sam answered. "I mean, I was just getting to know Danny, so I guess I can't be the judge of what's normal, but … what he is … and the ghosts … and Walker coming after me … I can't go back home, can I?" she realized suddenly. "I don't even know if I can go to school any more." Walker would be looking for her. How could she go about her normal activities with a ghost out to send her to prison for a curfew violation she hadn't even actually committed?

"No, you can't," Maddie sighed, reaching out to pat Sam sympathetically on the arm. "Not for now, anyway." She smiled. "We've already set up a pull-out bed in Jazz's room for you. Don't worry, we'll make sure everything is as comfortable as possible."

Sam stared at her uneaten cookie, the reality of the last half an hour slowly sinking in. "This is hard," she said slowly. She looked up at Mrs. Fenton, trying to organize her thoughts. Maddie knew her son was a ghost, knew that Danny was out being chased by Walker right now, and yet here she was, sitting with her son's friend and baking cookies. She was a ghost hunter by trade who had gone with her family into the heart of Pariah's empire to take him down. How could she be okay sitting here eating cookies? Where was all the fabled ghost-hunting equipment? "I … how do you …" she started helplessly. "I mean … what … what happened while Danny was in ghost jail?" she finally blurted.

Maddie blinked at the question. "Why, we all worried quite a lot," she answered. "Your phone call gave us all a scare. His father was ready to come running in there, guns blazing," she laughed gently. "Oh, Jack. He shoots first and asks questions later." She sobered. "However, Danny made us agree to wait twenty-four hours when he was jailed."

Sam blinked. "Wait. _When _he was jailed?"

"Well, he knew he would have to get into the jail somehow if he wanted to talk to all the ghosts who oppose Pariah Dark," Maddie pointed out. "And he came through! Jack wasn't too happy about it, but he's coming around. The idea of having ghosts to hunt after this is over has helped," she admitted.

Sam arched an eyebrow. "So he was planning on getting captured by Walker?"

"Eventually, I suppose," Maddie sighed. "It was an incredibly unsafe plan, and Jazz and I were trying to formulate a better one, but then he went and got himself caught, and all we could do was wait." Her gaze shifted away from Sam.

There was an awkward pause. Sam cleared her throat. "Why all the waiting?"

"Why sweetie, there's far too many ghosts to do anything except remain on the defensive for now," Maddie chastised Sam gently. "Danny … it's hard, but he worked hard to make his point; he is an excellent secret weapon." She smiled. "I suppose he hasn't told you all this, has he?"

"Uh, well, he's told me about the ghost stuff, but … secret weapon?"

"Danny has provided rather apt distraction for all our work," Maddie answered. She beamed, a smile worthy of Mrs. Manson herself. "Why, according to Jazz's calculations, we Fentons should have been forced into work 3.2 days ago! But they've been too busy. Of course we don't like it, but until we're ready for our first attack, there's been no choice. And Danny is as much a part of this as the rest of us; we have to rely on him."

"It seems like a lot of responsibility," Sam said to her cookie.

"It is. Too much, I think," Maddie said, almost to herself. "Well, shall I show you to Jazz's room?"

Sam looked up, putting down the cookie as a thought occurred to her. Mrs. Fenton knew about the plan to engage ghosts in the battle against Pariah. "Mrs. Fenton, I know where the sarcophagus is!"

Maddie was getting up from the table; she turned to look at Sam. "Oh?"

"It's in the Fright Knight's lair," Sam said.

"Hm," Was all Maddie said for a moment, pressing her thumb and forefinger to her chin in a thinking pose. "Well, it's useless without the Skeleton Key, but it's a start. How did you find out where it was?" she asked.

"Uh, a little bird told me," Sam answered.

Maddie smiled. "Well, if you don't want to tell me, all right," she answered warmly. Sam decided Mrs. Fenton was nice, but far too cheery for her tastes. "I'll tell Jack and we'll decide what to do about it. Now, Jazz's room is right this way …"

Sam stood with a sigh. She'd expected the news to have more of an impact. Resigning herself to a tour of her new room, as it were, she got up to follow Maddie.

&

Two hours later found Sam curled up on the futon Mrs. Fenton had pulled out for her; the ghost hunter had disappeared down into the basement (Sam could only presume it was the lab where the ghost weapons were made), babbling about an intangibility-slash-invisibility suit in development. Sam felt … trapped. It was an uncomfortable feeling. A fugitive in her own town, Sam couldn't leave the Fenton house. She couldn't go home, and she couldn't go to school. She almost called Tucker, but what would she say? Danny hadn't told Tucker about his ghost powers yet, as far as she knew.

She looked up when the door opened a crack. "Sam?"

"Danny," Sam said, sitting up. "I take it you gave Walker the slip?"

"I almost didn't," Danny admitted, opening the door the rest of the way and pressing it shut, resting his back against it. He wasn't wearing the red shirt under his t-shirt any more, and the bandages went up nearly to his elbows. "Are you doing okay?"

"I'm depressed," Sam answered flatly. "I can't go home even to get clothes, I can't go to school, I'm trapped in this house! Not that it isn't nice, but …" She trailed off.

Danny grimaced. "It's my fault," he said. "I'm sorry."

It was Danny's fault. Sam sighed aloud, wrapping her arms around her knees. "Apology accepted."

They were silent for a long moment, lost in thought. Finally, Sam spoke. "Skulker told me where the sarcophagus is."

"So he did know," Danny muttered, almost to himself. He looked up, meeting Sam's eyes. "He just told you, out of the blue?"

"He said it was hard to get to," Sam answered. "It's in the Fright Knight's lair. I think he was trying to indicate it was an impossible task."

"Nothing's impossible." Danny grinned. "Besides, he's forgetting the advantage humans have over ghosts."

Sam frowned, confused, before it dawned on her. "Humans phase through everything in the Ghost Zone!" she remembered. "Geez, this will be a cinch."

"But getting the Skeleton Key won't be so easy." Danny bemoaned. "It can't be destroyed, but it's probably been well hidden. We'll have to find it."

"It's a legendary artifact, right?" Sam asked. "There's probably literature about its hiding place somewhere. There's a few old bookstores I like to skulk around … don't make that face!"

"Skulk," Danny said, rolling his eyes. "Sorry. Reflex reaction."

Sam rolled her eyes back. "Anyway, if I poke around there, I might be able to find out something about the Skeleton Key."

"Great idea. One problem," Danny shot back. "You can't leave the house."

Sam instantly deflated. "Oh. Right …" Suddenly she realized just how out of the race she was. As long as Walker had it in for her, she was useless – trapped in a home full of ghost equipment, but with nothing to do. Except play Doomed. "Darn."

Danny looked stricken for a moment, his pallor poor. "Sam …"

"Don't apologize again, Danny," Sam sighed. "It's over, too late. Don't sweat it." She searched for a distraction and blurted out the first thing that came to mind. "Did Walker just do that to you?" she pointed to the bandages on Danny's arms.

Danny had the grace to look embarrassed this time, as well as a little irritated. "What difference does it make?" he asked, giving a little shrug and a slight smile. "It's the fault of my own stupidity. It'll heal in a day."

"How often does this happen to you?" Sam asked incredulously.

"Often enough." A scowl was starting to settle on Danny's face. "It never lasts long and Mom is trained in first aid, so—"

"Your mom is worried about you. I hung out with her for all of fifteen minutes and I know that," Sam answered, throwing out an arm in gesture. "You're taking on a lot right now, so just … argh. I dunno. Let us worry about you."

Danny's mouth twitched slightly. Sam wasn't sure if it was a hint of a smile or something else entirely, but it was something. "I'll be careful. I don't want to become a full ghost any time soon," he said, with the tone of a long-given promise.

Sam snorted in response, resting her chin on her knees again. "Right." She rolled her eyes over towards the window, then back towards Danny, who was contemplating the bandages around his arms with a serious expression. _I guess … it's weird. It's hard to get used to, and it makes me nervous, but I don't think Danny is … a _bad_ ghost, I guess. His parents believe in him, and I can't imagine that they're in league with Pariah Dark._

_I don't know if I trust him yet, but … I guess I can trust him to come down on our side, if it's Pariah._

Still, Sam didn't want to reveal her worries about Danny _to_ Danny. He was nice enough, and if everything he'd said was true, he meant well. He couldn't help being what he was. Embracing it was weird to Sam: if she had … well, ghostly powers, she would have done her best to ignore them. But Danny was using them, and using them constantly. What if that eventually turned against him? What if that – what did he call it? Ghostly obsession? – turned him against full humans as well?

_Unique. I've always wanted to be unique. And now here's Danny Fenton, not fully human and not fully ghost, as unique as can be. And I can't bring myself to think that's cool._

Danny interrupted her thoughts. "So," he said casually, his smile an offering of friendship, "Wanna go see my parents' inventions?"

Sam smiled back, hoping the expression didn't look too forced. "Sure."

&

The basement was like a whole different world compared to the rest of the house: built like a bunker, it had no windows and only one doorway, and it was filled from one end to the other with test tubes, beakers, wires, tools, blowtorches, Bunsen Burners, samples, files, sheet metal, and weapons, weapons, weapons. Jack was impossible to miss, dressed again in his orange hazmat suit and working with a blowtorch on something impossible to see past his massive girth. Maddie was next to him, studying a blueprint. Danny made a shushing motion, putting his finger to his lips as they came down the stairs. "Come on. I want to show you stuff before Dad—"

"Danny? Is that you?" Jack lifted his head, turning around. "Danny! Check this out! I—UNAUTHORIZED PERSONNEL IN THE LAB!"

Sam jumped, and Danny waved his hands in front of himself. "No, no, Dad! This is Sam Manson! Sam, you know – the girl I told you about? She's been at the meetings!"

"Oh. Wait, you want to hunt ghosts, too?" Jack asked Sam enthusiastically, pushing Danny aside.

"Well, I—"

"Dad! I just brought her down here to show her the inventions," Danny protested, rubbing his arm.

"Honey, don't scare Danny's friend away," Maddie said gently, putting a hand on Jack's arm. "You know what a hard time he has making them."

"Mom!" Danny's face flushed.

"If you're going to show her inventions, start with this one!" Jack pounded across the room, picked up whatever it was he had been working on, and spun around, holding it up. It looked like a silvery hazmat suit, built to fit Jack himself. It was _huge._ "The Fenton Invisibility Suit! It can turn a normal human invisible, just like a ghost!"

"And we never would have managed it without Danny's help," Maddie added, ruffling Danny's hair. "But it isn't finished yet; it needs some tweaking."

Sam cocked an eyebrow. Danny pressed his hand over his eyes. "Mom, stop embarrassing me, _please_," he pleaded. "And make Dad stop, too!"

"Don't be silly, son! It's our job to embarrass you," Jack grinned. Sam couldn't tell if he was joking or not.

"Now, Jack. Let's finish this thing up so we can get back to the Ecto-Suit," Maddie said, guiding Jack away.

"That was mortifying," Danny said miserably. "I'm sorry about my parents. They're …" he searched for a word.

"Fanatical?" Sam asked. She smirked at Danny's nod. "Good. We need people like that."

Danny didn't look so sure. "Well, anyway … you're going to have to use some of this stuff, probably. I heard my sister gave you the Fenton Lipstick."

"This?" Sam held up the lipstick, tucked into her pocket from when Jazz had given it to her.

"Yeah." Danny plucked it from her fingers, rolling up the lipstick itself, which was a sickly green color. "I really wouldn't recommend wearing this."

"Green isn't my color anyway," Sam said dryly. "I figure you use it by twisting it all the way up?"

"Pretty much," Danny nodded, handing it back to Sam. "It's still fully charged. I just wanted to check." He started leading her down along one of the rows of cabinets covered with ghost-fighting – and ghost-finding – equipment. "A lot of this stuff doesn't work, but a lot of it does." He picked up what looked like an outlandish recording device. "This is totally useless …"

"This is totally useless. Fear me," said the recording device.

Danny blushed. "It's the Fenton Ghost Gabber. It translates noises ghosts make into English. Dad made it before we came here, but every ghost I've met speaks English. Except Wulf."

"…every ghost I've met speaks English. Except Wulf. Fear me," said the Ghost Gabber.

"Wow. So why is it repeating everything you … oh, right. Hah. Got it," Sam said, smiling nervously. _I feel dumb …_ "Moving on?"

Danny put down the Ghost Gabber. "There's the Fenton Anti-Creep Stick. It's actually just a baseball bat with the word 'Fenton' on it, but Mom and Dad do that sometimes. That's the Fenton Bazooka I was talking about at your house. I can't even lift it normally." He laughed nervously. "When my mom tested that, I was, like, trying to be on the other side of the planet. Seriously."

Considering that it was supposed to create Ghost Portals into the Ghost Zone, which sucked ghosts in, Sam could understand that. "Wow. It must be really awkward living with parents who hunt ghosts when you're part ghost," she said slowly.

"Well … it's only kind of scary when they want to test new inventions."

"Do they test them on _you_?" Sam said incredulously. Suddenly Danny's pleading to be hidden at Tuck's house several days ago took on a whole other meaning.

"Uh, as long as they're not supposed to hurt, sometimes," Danny answered, looking vaguely confused. "Why not? I'm right here. And I'd rather they not work on me than on a ghost that's, oh, trying to kill them or something."

"But what if they do work?" Sam asked.

Danny didn't get a chance to answer, since the doorbell rang just then. "I'll get it!" cried Jack, suddenly breezing by Sam and Danny on his way up the stairs.

Sam and Danny looked at each other, then made chase. "Sam! Stay downstairs! What if it's Walker?"

"If it was Walker he'd just barge in! Why would he ring the doorbell?" Sam shot back. "It's probably just Tucker or something!"

"Tucker? Oh crud, I should probably—"

But as it turned out, neither of them were right. They both jogged into the foyer as Jack threw open the door to a tall, thin man in a suit, with silver hair and dark blue eyes. "Vladdie!" cried Jack.

"Vlad?" Danny asked incredulously.

"Why yes, yes, it's me! Good to see you … Jack," said the man, coming in the door. "I heard you had made it into Amity Park, and I just couldn't help myself. I had to come take a more active role. So here I am!"

Sam blinked twice. "Who is that?" she asked in a harsh whisper.

Danny turned her away from the man, whispering as well. "That's Vladimir Masters," he answered. "And along with the Guys in White, he's our main sponsor in the war against Pariah Dark."

_Tbc_

_Zomg! What is Vlad up to? Stay tuned and find out! -end cheesy 50's serial dialogue-_

_Thank you again for reading! Please leave me a review that I can hug and kiss goodnight. XD;_


	8. House Arrest

_Finally, another chapter! Sorry this was so long in coming._

**House Arrest**

"Why, Daniel!" Sam was startled when Danny cringed and turned to look up at the man. "What a pleasure to see you here, we so rarely get to talk."

Vladimir Masters stood a little too close to Danny, his hands behind his back as he towered over the boy. There was something … smarmy about the adult; his expression was smug and his body language suggested that he was used to ruling over all he surveyed. Danny's fists were balled, but otherwise he looked nervous and defensive. Sam raised her eyebrows in confusion.

"… Hi, Mr. Masters," Danny said slowly.

"I'm hurt! You don't look very happy to see me, son," Vlad said.

Danny opened his mouth to reply when Jack popped up behind Vlad with an overly joyful expression. Jack, Sam realized, never did anything halfway. "Vladdie! Glad you could make it! Let's go down to the lab, you've got to see all the great stuff we're working on!"

An expression flashed over Vlad's face. Sam could only read it as utter disdain and irritation. It disappeared as quickly as it came, however, and he smiled fondly at Jack. "That sounds wonderful, Jack, please … show me your fantastic inventions."

And with that Jack grabbed Vlad by the shoulder and marched him downstairs.

Danny's shoulders slumped the moment Vlad had left the room, glaring after him. He started to follow them down the stairs, but Sam grabbed his arm. "What was that all about?"

Danny glanced at her for only a brief moment before looking away. "It's nothing."

Sam snorted. "That's your excuse for anything you don't want to talk about."

She was startled when Danny's shoulder suddenly slid out of her grasp, her fingers closing on nothing before he moved away. "Look, he's a really important guy, so it's a bad idea to piss him off," he said, sounding a little exasperated. "He's kind of playing both sides. He's negotiated with someone on Pariah's side to make sure that Amity keeps getting the supplies it needs for everyone to survive even though we're in the Ghost Zone."

Sam raised her eyebrows. "And yet he's sponsoring the war on Pariah?"

"Supposedly Pariah doesn't know that. I don't know how he does it, I'm not there." Danny closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath, letting it out through his nose. "I'm glad he does what he does."

There was a 'but' in there. Sam pushed it. "Sounds great, but he seems kind of ..."

"Weird? Two-faced? Hates my dad but totally in love with my mom?" Danny interjected.

"I was going to say 'nasty', but that'll work. Totally in love with your mom?" Sam asked.

Danny pressed his face into one hand. "Vlad has a history with my dad. Mom and Dad just made the first stable ghost portal, but they'd been trying to build one since like 1980, along with Vlad. Er … let's just say that Jazz and I weren't the first ghost portal related incident."

"They poisoned Mr. Masters?" Sam gasped.

"Actually, it gave him a bad case of ecto-acne and the white hair." Danny shrugged. "Go figure. Uh, Dad said Vlad held it against him for years, until the whole Pariah Dark thing raged out of control." He paused. "Vlad is the one that pointed my parents to the castle in Wisconsin."

"That was nice of him. But back to the 'totally in love with your mom' thing," Sam encouraged.

Danny made a frustrated sound. "It's obvious whenever he's around her. He's all, I dunno. Smarmy."

"Your dad seems to think they're still best friends."

Danny shrugged, not replying, and looking towards the basement door with visible trepidation. "He's not a bad person," he said without much conviction.

"But you still don't like him," Sam nodded understandingly. "Danny, ninety percent of the adults in this world are put here to be a pain in a teenager's neck."

"I guess."

"… Is there something you're not telling me? Again?" Sam asked.

Danny blinked, his gaze going back to Sam as if just hearing her for the first time. "I hate it when he calls me 'son'," Danny said, and then he turned and started up the stairs, his previous lighter mood demolished.

&

Sam saw what Danny meant about Mr. Masters being 'smarmy' around his foster mother that evening at dinner.

It was a busy affair, although nothing gourmet. It seemed that Mrs. Fenton rarely did any cooking – Jazz tended to throw together meals. She enlisted Danny and Sam's help the moment she breezed in the door.

"I'm home!" Jazz called, and Danny looked up from the game of checkers he and Sam had begun.

"How was your first day at school?"

"Oh, fine, except in the middle of the afternoon Walker showed up, looking for y—Sam," Jazz answered, cutting off mid-word.

Danny and Sam looked at each other. "I told her," he said.

"He told me," Sam said simultaneously.

"You didn't chicken out after all!" Jazz crowed. Danny flushed, scowling, but she didn't give him a chance to answer. "Walker showed up looking for both of you. It was hilarious, really." She hung her backpack neatly by the door. "I'm going to be so glad to get Amity out of this mess. History is about Pariah Dark? Honestly. Boring!" She rolled her eyes. "So, what did you want for dinner?"

All of this had been said faster than Sam or Danny could get a word in edgewise. Sam wasn't sure if she had an appetite yet; every twenty minutes or so, she remembered that she was virtually under house arrest. It made her feel sick. "I dunno."

"Anything Vlad doesn't like," Danny joked.

Jazz's eyebrows shot up towards her hairline. "Vlad is here?"

Danny nodded. "And hitting on Mom in the basement while Dad tries to tell him about all our inventions, again." He rolled his eyes.

Jazz gave Danny a hard, searching look. "He's not …?" But the look evaporated after a moment, and despite Danny giving no visible answer, she changed the subject. "Okay, I guess it's cooking for six tonight. Let's see if the chicken is thawed."

Danny beckoned Sam to follow himself and Jazz into the kitchen. "She cooks. I used to cook, too, but I don't really have time any more."

"I can't imagine why," Sam said dryly. "You can cook?"

"Well, I'm best at hot dogs …"

"Danny doesn't give himself enough credit," Jazz interrupted. "He makes mean macaroni and cheese."

"With hot dogs!" Danny added, raising a finger.

"As long as he doesn't use the Fenton Microwave …"

"Last time Mom made hot dogs with the Fenton Microwave, they came to life," Danny explained to Sam.

Sam tried to imagine this. "… What …?"

"They had little faces on them and everything," Danny elaborated. "And teeth. Sharp, tiny teeth."

"… And that is another reason why I don't eat meat," Sam declared.

"You don't? Danny, why didn't you tell me?" Jazz accused.

"I didn't know?" Danny answered, looking confused.

"I didn't tell him," Sam confirmed.

"Mm … well, I'll see if we have enough pasta to make a meal …" Jazz rooted around in the pantry.

Dinner ended up being spaghetti with chicken breast. Danny looked chagrined when he was enlisted to tell the adults the food was ready, but he disappeared down the stairs obediently.

Sam helped set out the dinner plates. "You're okay with me living in your room?" she asked.

Jazz dished out the pasta next to Sam. "Why wouldn't I be?" she asked lightly. There was a short pause, then Jazz continued, "Have your parents called looking for you?"

"They've probably tried my cell phone a million times," Sam sighed. "I left it at home, along with everything else." It had occurred to her earlier in the day, but she didn't know how she could get her things. "I can't call to tell them I'm okay from here because my parents have caller ID, and I can't let them know where I am – or who I'm with," she added, knowing that Jazz would suggest Danny's cellular phone.

Jazz nodded understandingly. "We'll send Danny to pick up some clothes for you, all right?" she suggested sweetly, reminding Sam of Maddie.

Before they could continue, however, Danny reappeared along with Vlad, Maddie, and Jack. "Dinner is served! Spaghetti and chicken," Jazz announced. "Hello, Mr. Masters!"

"Hello, dear," Vlad said pleasantly, slipping smoothly into the role of the kind adult. Danny glared at him from the corner of his eye, but pasted a smile on his face the moment Vlad looked his way. "Mm, this looks scrumptious! You must be quite the cook."

"Thank you," Jazz answered smoothly. Sam thought she saw a momentary look of irritation, but it might have been her imagination. "Have you met Sam yet?"

Sam suddenly realized she hadn't been formally introduced to the billionare as Vlad's eyes turned to her. "Hi," she said, able to act just as smoothly as Jazz. She couldn't help the desire to be a little snarky, though, and continued, "My name's Samantha, but call me Sam or I will banish you to the deepest depths of the Ghost Zone."

Vlad raised his eyebrows and chuckled in response, taking her hand and shaking it with a grip that was slightly too tight. "Very well, 'Sam'." He said it with a vaguely mocking tone before taking his seat – opposite Mr. Fenton, but right next to Mrs. Fenton.

Danny's glare darkened.

Jazz sat on Vlad's other side, and Danny sat opposite his mom, leaving Sam the seat between Jack and Danny.

"Maddie, your handiwork simply has me flabbergasted," Vlad pronounced as they started on the meal.

"Oh, Jack is the one that imagines everything," Maddie said pleasantly. "I just do the blueprints. Jazz, this is delicious."

"Another wonderful dinner, Jazzypants!" Jack agreed heartily. "Mm, Vladdie, do you want to be the first person to try out the Invisibility Suit?"

"Ah, no, I'm afraid I will have to decline," Vlad answered, a look of disdain crossing his face. "Perhaps Daniel would be the better candidate, hmm?"

Danny had been concentrating on his food, and he looked up in surprise at this. "Uh, _no_," he said pointedly.

"But it is your _father's_ invention," Vlad answered, spearing a portion of chicken. "Surely …?"

"Daniel's always very brave with these things, but I think I'll be the first to try it on," Maddie interjected.

"Why, Maddie, how trusting of you," Vlad almost sneered.

"I helped build it, Vlad," Maddie pointed out. "I know its quirks as well as Jack."

"Anyway," Jazz suddenly said, "how are things 'outside'?"

"Oh, as hectic as ever," Vlad dismissed. "They're looking forward to hearing about your human portal, Maddie."

"Unfortunately, that may be a while in coming," Maddie sighed. "Reverse-engineering the Ghost Portal isn't going as smoothly as we hoped."

"And we're in the middle of working on the Fenton Suit," Jack added.

"And what, pray tell, is the purpose of such a suit?" Vlad asked a bit testily.

"It enhances the user's natural abilities one hundred times over!" Jack was obviously about to elaborate, but Vlad interrupted.

"And how would that help? Pariah is a thousand times stronger than a single human. You would have to build a hundred suits to defeat him in such a way."

"A hundred and one," Jazz muttered to herself.

"You would be better served to concentrate on a weapon, perhaps," Vlad suggested.

"The kind of power that would take …" Maddie mused aloud, waving her fork thoughtfully. "I doubt we have a generator that could manage it. If it did work, it would take far too long to charge."

"I know you could think of something, Maddie," Vlad said, his voice abruptly sickly sweet. Danny, who was watching from the corner of his eye, choked on his food. Sam leaned over and patted his back until he swallowed hard.

"How did you get into the Ghost Zone?" Danny asked as soon as his airway was clear.

"The same way I always have," Vlad answered, affixing Danny with an unnerving gaze. Danny met it steadily, but without the same resolve. "In any case, it's not of importance. I am far more curious, young Daniel, how you acquired the bandages around your arms."

Danny paled slightly. "I-I—"

"He was caught in a ghost fight!" Jazz interjected. "Walker is looking for Sam here because she supposedly has connections with a rogue ghost, and he was caught in the crossfire."

Vlad raised an eyebrow, looking over to Sam with a slight smirk curling his lips. "It's fortunate that Miss 'Sam' escaped any injury at all," he observed.

Sam puffed up, a little indignant at the man. Maddie was frowning at Vlad behind his back, but Jack was utterly oblivious. "Danny protected me," Sam said, her voice flat.

"Oh, really? How chivalrous of you, Daniel," Vlad intoned, his gaze going back to Danny.

Danny's eyebrow twitched slightly, but he wouldn't meet Vlad's eyes, his gaze firmly affixed on his plate.

"Oh, I almost forgot," Maddie said suddenly, and all eyes turned to her. "We've made an advancement in our intelligence. Sam has discovered where Pariah's sarcophagus is."

Vlad arched an eyebrow again. "Ah, really?" he glanced at Sam with an evaluating look, clearly reassessing her intelligence – or maybe her value. Sam glared back, not abashed about it at all. "That's wonderful. Unfortunately, it's useless without the Skeleton Key."

"I think you're only the third person to say that to me," Sam snapped, her patience frayed. But Jazz spoke over her: "It's better than nothing."

"It's certainly a start," Vlad allowed, visibly musing. "Mm … well, I'll see if I can't dig up anything about the Skeleton Key. Old texts, prophesies, things of that sort."

"I knew you could come through for us, Vladdie," Jack said with gusto. He pushed back his plate, getting up from his chair. "That hit the spot! Want to join me down in the lab?" he asked of Vlad.

Mr. Masters shook his head. "No, that's quite all right," he answered.

Jack shrugged his massive shoulders. "Thanks for the meal, Jazzypants!" And with that, he thundered away. Sam wondered if Mr. Fenton did anything quietly.

"So, Maddie …" Vlad began.

Danny suddenly pushed himself back from the table. "I'm done," he announced, taking his half-eaten plate to the trash. Sam's environmentally-conscious self winced at the waste. "Wanna play Doomed, Sam?"

"Uh …" Sam had hardly touched her food. "I have to finish?"

"Go on, take it upstairs," Maddie said dismissively, smiling.

"I guess I'll watch you play!" Sam said with unintended enthusiasm. There was something undeniably creepy about Mr. Masters. She picked up her plate and abandoned Mrs. Fenton and her daughter to their fates, following Danny up the stairs.

"Okay, he's weird," she conceded to Danny once they'd reached his room. It contained several unpacked boxes, but the essentials were out – his computer, a cot, and surprisingly, a dresser. Come to think of it, hadn't Jazz already had a bed and a dresser in her room as well? "You have an awful lot of furniture," she remarked. "How did you move it in?"

Danny glanced back at her while his computer booted up. "It was here already. FentonWorks was my family's home before Amity fell to Pariah."

"Then you've lived here before?"

"For about six months," Danny answered with a slight shrug. "My parents adopted me and went pretty ghost-happy, but they got out because … well, as enthusiastic as Mom is about ghost-hunting, she saw it was a losing battle. Then I had an encounter with Wulf, and that was it, Mom had us out of here."

"An 'encounter'?" Sam demanded, trying not to sound as shocked as she felt.

Danny blushed slightly, but pulled up his shirt. On his side were four short, jagged, white lines, arching from his torso toward his ribs. "I don't really remember it, but apparently he swiped me with his claws while clawing a portal out of the Ghost Zone and into Amity. I just seem to have that kind of luck," he laughed weakly. "This is all that's left of it, and I'm okay, so …" He shrugged.

Sam didn't quite know how to react, so she nodded soberly. "I'm glad you're okay."

"Me too." Danny grinned more genuinely and turned back to his computer. "Tell me when you want your turn."

"Right." Sam looked around Danny's room and worked on her pasta. It was sparse, yes, but with the look of someone who hadn't finished moving in rather than someone who had few possessions. He'd put up a few posters, and all of them were of space shuttles and star maps. "You're interested in outer space?"

"I kind of want to become an astronaut," Danny said, sounding a little distracted. "… Actually, I really wanna be an astronaut."

"That's—nice." Sam almost said 'cute', but refrained at the last second. "Hey, Jazz was going to ask you if you could fly over to my place and pick up some clothes for me … are you okay doing that?"

Danny cringed, and he shot a glance over his shoulder, looking a little pained. "Like … underwear?" he whispered.

Sam colored. "Uh, well …"

They both sat there awkwardly for a long moment, contemplating the embarrassing idea of Danny picking up any of Sam's underclothes, when there was a knock at the door. "Daniel?"

Danny's eyes shot to his doorway. "Mr. Masters?"

"May I come in, son?"

Sam frowned, whispering. "What's with him and you?"

Danny ignored her. "Sure," he said, his voice grudging. He got up from his seat as his computer made splatty noises that indicated Danny's sprite had suffered a bloody death. "Coming."

Sam started to stand up as Danny passed her on the way to the door. She felt confused as to why Danny was so ambivalent towards Vlad. He clearly disliked the man, but he let Vlad—

"I was sorry to see you leave the table so early," Vlad sighed as Danny opened the door to his room. "I had hoped to get a chance to talk to you …" his gaze went to Sam. "Privately."

Sam cocked an eyebrow.

Danny sighed aloud, not hiding his disappointment. "What can't Sam hear?" He didn't move to let Vlad in.

"These are private family matters, Daniel," Vlad answered smoothly. "Regarding your parents, you, and myself." He smiled thinly as he let that sink in.

_Does Mr. Masters know about Danny having ghost powers?_ Sam wondered. But Danny didn't defend Sam's knowledge. He just sighed again, a little more quietly, and stepped aside. "Sorry, Sam …"

Sam waved a hand, hiding her frustration. "Oh, it's fine," she said, with a fake smile. She shot Vlad a glare as she passed, however. "We'll talk later!"

"Great." Danny was too distracted to see how fake Sam's reaction was.

The door closed behind Sam, and she stared at it.

Then she knelt down and pressed her ear to the frame.

_Tbc_

_What did Sam hear at the door? Find out next time in … COMING HOME! Ahaha._

_I love reviews! Thank you to everyone who has left them for the last chapters!_


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